tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/pyeongchang-winter-games-2018-30533/articlesPyeongChang Winter Games 2018 – The Conversation2018-02-26T15:57:16Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/922312018-02-26T15:57:16Z2018-02-26T15:57:16ZHow Olympic athletes grapple with life once the thrill is gone<p>Hundreds of Winter Olympians around the world are saying farewell to the thrill of a lifetime. While a handful will leave as delighted medal winners, the majority leave empty-handed.</p>
<p>Whether they won the medal or not, some find themselves navigating uncharted waters into an uncertain future. In many cases, they’ve trained and devoted themselves to their sport for years. </p>
<p>Suddenly, the lights go dim.</p>
<p>As a former Olympian who’s now a sport psychologist, I know from firsthand experience that it’s not easy. Being an athlete is central to the identity of most Olympians, and transitioning away from training and competing can be daunting.</p>
<h2>Daily life upended</h2>
<p>In the early 1980s, psychologist Nancy K. Schlossberg developed her <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=BCobGX6ofOMC&amp;lpg=PR9&amp;ots=V3U8_rNbNQ&amp;dq=nancy%20schlossberg%20transition%20theory&amp;lr&amp;pg=PP1#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">transition theory</a>. It recognizes that people are prone to stress whenever they experience shifts in routines, relationships and roles, and changes that can happen at home, at work and at school.</p>
<p>For Olympians, a transition back to everyday life represents a break from months of highly structured routines. No longer are they expected to be accountable to their teammates or coaches. And no longer do they have an impending competition to motivate them. </p>
<p>Some of the most immediate challenges involve making a decision: Should an athlete continue his or her studies? Or search for a job? <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-olympic-athletes-pay-the-electric-bill-63157">Most Olympic athletes receive very little funding</a> and need to find a way to financially support themselves outside of their sport.</p>
<p>Many also need to decide whether they even want to continue participating in their sport. This might seem like no-brainer for some, especially those who are young, healthy and still at the top of their game, like 17-year-old snowboarders Chloe Kim and Red Gerard.</p>
<p>But for those whose physical prowess is waning and who have growing families it’s a distressing decision. After three-time Olympic medalist Lindsey Vonn won a bronze medal in the downhill ski event, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-olympics-womens-downhill-hernandez-20180220-story.html">she acknowledged</a> that she was at a different point in her career – perhaps the end – because her body was breaking down.</p>
<p>“I wish I could keep skiing,” she told the LA Times. “I wish my body didn’t hurt as bad as it does.”</p>
<h2>A flimsy sense of self</h2>
<p>For athletes who have invested years of their life to get to the Olympics, they have to contend with what sports psychologists call their “<a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1994-03969-001">athletic identity</a>,” which is the extent to which being an athlete is entwined with their sense of self. </p>
<p>For athletes who have a strong athletic identity, the lifestyle of being an athlete is central to how they see themselves and how others may see and treat them. When they’re competing, it can serve as a source of great strength, meaning and perseverance. But when age, injury or failure occur, it can become an Achilles heel: All of a sudden, they’re unmoored.</p>
<p>Retiring from playing a sport is as weighty a decision as retiring from a job or changing career paths. It can create a huge void and can force athletes to reflect on their careers and question their performance: Am I weak or strong? Was my athletic career a success or a failure? How resilient am I? How do I craft the next chapter in my life? </p>
<h2>When the music’s over</h2>
<p>As a psychologist, I’ve had the privilege of working with many ex-Olympic athletes who have struggled with this transition. </p>
<p>I’ve also personally been through a post-Olympic transition. </p>
<p>In my case, before the end of the 1984 Olympic Games, I returned home to Morgantown, West Virginia, with a gold medal in the men’s English match rifle shooting event. But I was also saddled with the memory of a mediocre 15th-place finish in a different event. </p>
<p>All of a sudden, my years-long journey of preparation, sacrifice and competition was over. Luckily, I had a job waiting for me as a shooting coach and was enrolled in a graduate program in professional psychology. I decided that I needed to retire in order to focus on work and school, and was able to move on from being an Olympic athlete with little, if any, regret.</p>
<p>But each athlete’s path and story differs. For every <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Kwan#Public_life">Michelle Kwan</a>, who went on to become an author and a public diplomacy ambassador for the United States, there’s a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/the-mystery-of-why-the-best-african-american-figure-skater-in-history-went-bankrupt-and-lives-in-a-trailer/2016/02/25/a191972c-ce99-11e5-abc9-ea152f0b9561_story.html?utm_term=.475e205bcb44">Debi Thomas</a>, the former figure skater who declared bankruptcy in 2014 and is grappling with mental health issues.</p>
<p>Those who struggle the most post-games are perhaps those who had high expectations that went unfulfilled, which can lead to a lifetime of “what-ifs” and second guessing.</p>
<p>But the Maasai people of Kenya have a saying about life: “Everything ends.” </p>
<p>It’s a maxim that every Olympic athlete – medal winner or not – should take to heart.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92231/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Edward Etzel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For athletes returning home – especially those who are on the cusp of retirement – the transition can be daunting.Edward Etzel, Professor of Sport and Exercise Psychology, West Virginia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/922382018-02-26T01:52:29Z2018-02-26T01:52:29ZWill Pyeongchang be able to avoid a post-Olympics day of reckoning?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207682/original/file-20180223-108113-ax15dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will structures like the Gangneung Ice Arena be worth the investment once the games wrap up?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Pyeongchang-Olympics-Tourism-Flop/8b215511c7224f9fa7e69f86c3144ab3/32/0">AP Photo/Felipe Dana</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Now that South Korea’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics have wrapped up, what happens next? </p>
<p>When preparing a bid to host the Olympics, organizers typically promote economic growth, jobs, housing and infrastructure improvements. But as a landscape architect and urban designer who worked on both the Atlanta and London Olympics, I’ve been able to see how these lofty visions don’t always mesh with reality. </p>
<p>So is Pyeongchang in a good position to become a winter sports hub that will fuel economic growth and tourism for years to come? Or will the country’s long-term fiscal health be damaged, leaving a financial burden for future generations?</p>
<p>Ultimately, the legacy of the Pyeongchang Games will depend on the
answers to these questions. </p>
<p>By looking at what’s worked – and what hasn’t – in the planning and execution of the games in previous host cities, we can see whether South Korea is poised to benefit from its considerable investment.</p>
<h2>Creative planning can transform a city</h2>
<p>With good planning, the Olympics can be an economic boon, while spurring some exciting changes to the urban fabric of a city. </p>
<p>The 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics <a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-la-olympics-elliott-20140729-column.html">turned a profit</a>, generating a US$225 million surplus that has been used to support American Olympic efforts and local youth sports organizations over the decades. After the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, the athletes’ village was converted <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/08/02/atlanta-games-venues-from-left-legacy-some-lessons/Jj8zIJqrUcdTT6sEXUjseK/story.html">into new dormitories for a local university</a>. </p>
<p>When planning the 2012 London Olympics, organizers took the long view – perhaps more than any other previous host city. They were able to transform an underdeveloped industrial part of the city into a thriving community that includes public open space, infrastructure improvements and affordable housing. Every venue was designed to be retrofitted once the games were completed. For example, the Copper Box Arena, which hosted handball and other events, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/davehillblog/2015/jul/23/%20london-olympic-legacy-three-years-on-2012-games">is now used for an array of indoor sports</a>.</p>
<p>Paris and Los Angeles were chosen to host the Olympic Games in 2024 and 2028, in large part because both cities have hosted the games in the past and have existing venues in place. Planners for Los Angeles Games project that they’ll cost about $5 billion to stage <a href="http://toronto.citynews.ca/2015/08/26/los-angeles-organizers-project-161-million-surplus-in-budget-for-proposed-2024-olympic-games/">and will generate a surplus</a>. (By comparison, the Rio Games cost <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2017/06/14/ap-analysis-rio-de-janeiro-olympics-cost-13-1-billion/102860310/">$13 billion</a>.) </p>
<p>Los Angeles does plan to build an expensive new stadium for the opening ceremonies. However, this stadium will eventually become the home for the city’s two National Football League teams, the Rams and the Chargers, and the stadium has already <a href="http://www.lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3622">been designated</a> the host of the 2021 Super Bowl.</p>
<h2>It’s all about the bottom line</h2>
<p>For the organizers of the Los Angeles and Paris Games, the financial burden of being a host city is a primary concern. </p>
<p>This is probably because spiraling costs have crippled previous host cities. From 1968 to 2012, every single Olympic Games ended up costing more than originally estimated, with 1976 Montreal and 1984 Sarajevo each <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/olympic-stadium-pyeongchang_us_5a7cba85e4b08dfc9301c8a7">costing 10 times the original estimate</a>. It took Montreal <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jul/06/40-year-hangover-1976-olympic-games-broke-montreal-canada">30 years</a> to pay off its debts after the 1976 Olympics.</p>
<p>And despite bold plans to repurpose Olympic buildings, past host cities have been left with vacant, decaying sports complexes that are referred to as “white elephants.”</p>
<p>Beijing’s iconic “Bird’s Nest” stadium <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/aug/22/birds-nest-empty-monument-china-magnificence">has rarely been used</a> since 2008. The Olympic Aquatic Center in Athens has sat vacant since the 2004 Summer Olympics, and <a href="http://www.news.com.au/sport/sports-life/a-dark-olympic-legacy-for-greece/news-story/8dcf6d1e8df9fe2e0f93ff12e74b1b72">many blame</a> Greece’s economic collapse on debts associated with the Olympics. </p>
<p>Nearly two years after the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2017/feb/10/rios-olympic-venues-six-months-on-in-pictures">most venues are closed or underused</a>. The Rio Olympic stadium has been abandoned and closed to tourists due to a dispute over $1 million in unpaid electricity bills and management fees.</p>
<h2>Can Pyeongchang become a winter sports hub?</h2>
<p>South Korea hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1988, and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/02/08/south-koreas-renaissance-since-hosted-seoul-olymics-2988-also-hosted-olympics-1988-but-much-has-chan/319200002/">many credit these games</a> for sparking the country’s transformation into an economic powerhouse and a global leader in consumer electronics. </p>
<p>In the case of the Pyeongchang Games, one of country’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelpremack/2018/01/30/pyeongchang-is-hoping-the-olympics-will-make-it-a-winter-sports-capital-but-its-a-costly-gamble/#6b27137f4926">stated goals</a> was to help the country become a top winter sports hub in Asia. </p>
<p>There were two main sites chosen for 2018 Winter Olympics: the mountain resort Alpensia and the coastal city of Gangneung. The Alpensia resort was prominently featured during the 2018 games, with downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping and biathlon taking place at the site. The city of Gangneung included new stadiums for curling, ice hockey, speed skating and figure skating events.</p>
<p>South Korea ended up investing <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/02/02/582790412/south-korea-prepares-to-spend-13-billion-on-winter-olympics-is-it-worth-it">around $13 billion</a> for the Pyeongchang Olympics. Although this is significantly less than Russia’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/that-sochi-olympic-boondoggle-russians-say-all-the-investment-is-paying-off/2017/11/13/65014bd0-b82c-11e7-9b93-b97043e57a22_story.html">record $55 billion tab</a> for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, it still <a href="http://time.com/4421865/olympics-cost-history/">exceeded</a> what the country had budgeted. A major portion of that has gone to new hotels in Gangneung, housing projects, venues and transportation projects, like a high-speed rail that links Seoul to Pyeongchang’s remote venues. This rail would provide access to the ski resorts and help further South Korea’s vision for creating an Asian winter sports hub. </p>
<p>Yet anyone who watched the games on TV couldn’t help noticing that many events <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/sports/olympics/olympics-venues-empty.html">were poorly attended</a>. There could be a number of explanations, including <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2125018/china-bans-group-tours-south-korea-once-again-says">a Chinese travel ban</a> that prevented Chinese fans from attending, the country’s distance from Europe and North America, a lack of local interest in alpine sports, and early morning starting times.</p>
<p>However, it does make you wonder if South Korea’s vision for a major Asian winter sports hub is viable. Many global economists <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/12/south-korea-pyeongchang-winter-olympics-weak-ticket-sales-likely-losses.html">predict</a> that a major increase in regional tourism and economic growth is unlikely.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, organizers seem to have learned from the successes and failures of previous host cities, from Atlanta to Athens.</p>
<p>For example, South Korea built a complex of eight 15-story apartment buildings in Pyeongchang to house the Olympic athletes. All of the apartments <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/south-korean-developers-cautious-about-lasting-olympic-benefits-1517922006">have already been sold</a>, with most going to domestic buyers.</p>
<p>And to avoid “white elephants,” organizers in South Korea are planning to demolish some of the new venues after the games, deeming that it would be too impractical to try to repurpose them. For example, the new Olympic stadium <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/south-korea-built-109-million-133000366.html">cost $109 million</a> to build and seats 35,000 people. But there are currently only 40,000 people living in the region. So the stadium will go by way of the wrecking ball once the games conclude.</p>
<p>South Korea’s vision of creating a top winter sports hub might be in doubt. But South Korea did use the Olympics to flaunt its technological prowess, showcasing cutting-edge technologies such as a <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/19/technology/pyeongchang-winter-olympics-5g-intel/index.html">5G mobile network</a> and <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/pyeongchang-olympics-showcases-korean-driving-vehicles-53101955">self-driving buses</a>. </p>
<p>So perhaps the legacy of Pyeongchang will be that it encouraged further expansion of the country’s technology sector, just as the 1988 Seoul Games helped transform South Korea into an electronics powerhouse.</p>
<p>As with all cities that take the gambit of hosting Olympic games, time will tell.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92238/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Sipes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South Korea's lofty vision of transforming the region into a winter sports hub may be pipe dream.James Sipes, Instructor of Geodesign, Pennsylvania State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/918862018-02-20T11:40:06Z2018-02-20T11:40:06ZWhy is there a norovirus outbreak at the Winter Olympics? 4 questions answered<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206792/original/file-20180216-50536-1gg4qb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A digitally colorized cluster of norovirus virions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://phil.cdc.gov/Details.aspx?pid=10708">CDC/ Charles D. Humphrey</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: At the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, there have been more than <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2018-virus/swiss-skiers-first-athletes-hit-by-norovirus-at-games-idUSKCN1G009H">200 confirmed cases</a> – mostly security and games personnel, but also two athletes. We asked Kartikeya Cherabuddi, an infectious disease expert at the University of Florida, to explain what this virus is and how it spreads.</em> </p>
<h2>1. What is norovirus?</h2>
<p>What do the Olympics, cruise ships and nursing homes have in common? They all involve humans congregating in a small area – creating a comfortable environment for norovirus outbreaks. </p>
<p>Norovirus is a very contagious virus. It’s <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/features/norovirus/index.html">a common cause of gastroenteritis</a>, or inflammation of the intestine, worldwide.</p>
<p>The symptoms start as abdominal cramps and nausea. Vomiting – more common in children – and diarrhea – more common in adults – can also occur. About half of cases involve a low-grade fever around 100.5°F. </p>
<p>Some people have no symptoms. In fact, as many as <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1410.080117">one-third of infected people</a> show no symptoms but still pass the viruses in the stool. </p>
<p>Norovirus spreads from an infected person mainly by direct contact (such as shaking hands), by touching an infected surface or though contaminated water and food. Seven in 10 of all contaminated food related norovirus outbreaks are caused by <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/p0603-norovirus.html">infected food workers</a>.</p>
<p>Norovirus can cause serious illness and even death in children under the age of five, as well as the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. In otherwise healthy people, including athletes, it could cause dehydration and significant discomfort. </p>
<p>There’s no specific treatment. Doctors typically support patients by providing oral and intravenous fluids. The good news is that there are no long-term complications. Recovery is quick, usually in 72 hours. </p>
<p>Outbreaks tend to terminate spontaneously in one to two weeks.</p>
<h2>2. Why is there an outbreak at the Winter Olympics?</h2>
<p>Norovirus infections can spread quickly.</p>
<p><a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jmv.21237">A very small amount of norovirus</a> – as low as 18 individual viruses – can lead to infection. Norovirus also has a high “<a href="https://dx.doi.org/%2010.1056/NEJMra0804575">secondary attack rate</a>,” meaning that 30 percent of people who are exposed become infected. There is no vaccine. </p>
<p>Like the flu, norovirus has many <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-discovered-3-new-noroviruses-that-are-causing-gastro-outbreaks">different strains</a>. Prior infection does not provide immunity and using alcohol sanitizers alone cannot prevent its spread. It can also survive on environmental surfaces and is tolerant to freezing and heat up to 140°F. </p>
<p>The Olympic tend to have closed areas with communal dining where a number of people interact with each other. All of these factors enable the infection to spread quickly in 24 to 48 hours, affecting many people.</p>
<p>What’s more, norovirus outbreaks predominantly occur in the winter for reasons that aren’t entirely clear. In a <a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/9/1/02-0175-f2">study done in England and Wales</a>, the peak of winter was significantly associated with norovirus outbreaks in health care facilities. </p>
<h2>3. Why was it so hard to prevent the outbreak?</h2>
<p>The South Korean government <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2018-virus/olympics-ioc-discussing-norovirus-outbreak-more-cases-reported-idUSKBN1FT07C">took steps to prevent the outbreak</a>, including quarantining security staff; inspecting the hygiene at restaurants and accommodation venues; and testing tap water and drinking sources.</p>
<p>But that may not have been enough to stop the outbreak. The virus could have been present in other people who showed no symptoms.</p>
<p>Norovirus infections are not easy to diagnose. Though infections are very common, they’re often not attributed to norovirus because <a href="http://jcm.asm.org/content/early/2017/10/26/JCM.01457-17">testing</a> is not widely available. </p>
<p>So: It’s winter. An unprecedented number of young people in tight-knit groups are living in closed spaces. They’re serviced by a large number of people temporarily mobilized to meet their needs. They’re confronted with a microbe that appears to be custom-made for such a situation – a microbe to which they have no real immunity and whose diagnosis tends to be delayed. It’s remarkable that the virus didn’t spread farther than it already has. </p>
<h2>4. How do we keep diseases like this from spreading when large groups of people from around the world mass together?</h2>
<p>Illness outbreaks – of norovirus or of other infections – are common whenever large groups of people come together. For example, at the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2013-092380">2012 London Olympics</a>, 310 of the 10,568 athletes had a respiratory illness and 123 had a gastrointestinal illness. </p>
<p>Organizers have to pay an extraordinary amount of attention to food and water safety, as well as sanitation. They have to communicate constantly as the situation evolves.</p>
<p>People attending these gatherings also have to take precautions. <a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/list/">The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website</a> is a great resource for travel-related advice. At the University of Florida travel clinic, we ensure that people receive the right vaccines and prophylactic medications, as well as offer advice on safety, sanitation and hygiene. </p>
<p>To <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/preventing-infection.html">prevent norovirus infections</a>, people should wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water and use alcohol sanitizers, which can be helpful for other infections. Avoid cold foods that require handling, like salads, sandwiches and oysters. If infected, do not prepare food for others for two days even after you feel well. </p>
<p>Finally, at the cost of appearing rude, do not shake hands – wave!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91886/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kartikeya Cherabuddi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There's a norovirus outbreak at the Winter Olympics. Here's what that means – and why it's so hard to stop.Kartikeya Cherabuddi, Physician, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/919362018-02-19T13:40:58Z2018-02-19T13:40:58ZWere Team GB's skeleton suits responsible for fantastic three medal haul?<p>Team GB skeleton rider Lizzie Yarnold won a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/42981272">stunning Winter Olympic gold</a> on February 17, backed up by bronzes for Laura Deas and Dom Parsons. Thanks to drag-resistant ridges, 3D laser scanning and topnotch material, Team GB’s skeleton suits are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/feb/12/gb-skeleton-pyeongchang-skin-suits-british-cycling">said to</a> have provided up to a one-second advantage per run over the rest of the field and have been a hot topic of <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/winter-olympics-2018/2018/02/15/2018-winter-olympics-british-skeleton-suits-create-controversy/339893002/">controversy</a>. </p>
<p>What makes these revolutionary suits so speedy – and just how important were these technological innovations in Team GB’s riders’ success? The Conversation put these questions to Nick Martin, senior lecturer in Aerodynamics at Northumbria University.</p>
<p><strong>How do the suits give the riders their extra speed?</strong></p>
<p>The aerodynamics of a skeleton bobsled and rider are complex, and our knowledge of fluid mechanics is far from complete. This creates opportunities for research and development programmes that push the frontiers of our aerodynamic understanding to produce technological innovations that give riders an all-important edge.</p>
<p>Drag is the aerodynamic force that opposes an object’s motion through air and slows it down. Only about 10% of the drag force acting on skeleton riders comes from the bobsled, meaning that the greatest potential for improving the time it takes to traverse the 1,376.38 meter track in Pyeongchang is to optimising the aerodynamics of the athletes themselves.</p>
<p>The drag acting on the riders comes from two sources. Air moving close to the athletes’ bodies moves slower than air further away, causing friction along the athletes’ skin suits. In addition, as athletes move down the track, air directly in front of them becomes more compressed and air behind them becomes less dense. This pressure difference acts to both “push” against the athletes from the front and “pull” them back at the same time, slowing them down.</p>
<p>Pressure drag accounts for more than 90% of the overall drag on both the rider and bobsled. The amount of pressure drag is influenced by the shape of the athlete, so aerodynamics experts can most effectively attempt to make performance gains by refining the athletes’ helmets and suits.</p>
<p>Skeleton suits are made out of an elastic material called polyurethane. All teams use this material, but the addition of drag-resistant ridges and the use of 3D scanning allows the suit designers to make subtle changes to the athletes’ shape that seems to set apart Team GB’s suits. This fine tuning is comparable to the careful design engineering of Formula One cars and aeroplanes to perfect their aerodynamic behaviour.</p>
<p>The drag-resistant ridges on Team GB’s suits introduce turbulence into the thin layer of air surrounding the athlete, known as the boundary layer. A turbulent boundary layer actually causes more skin friction, but is less likely to separate when it encounters a seam in the skin suit, a folded ridge of material, or a curved surface. Separation creates pockets of low-pressure, slow-moving air, too much of which can cause large increases in pressure drag. The ridges minimise pressure drag, surmounting the increased skin friction to provide the riders with that extra bit of oomph.</p>
<p>Any loose “flapping” material from the riders’ skin suits also causes air separation. By 3D laser scanning athletes, the suit manufacturers can create bespoke, close-fitting suits for each rider, reducing the amount of loose material. 3D scans can also be used in computer simulations to model how air flows over the rider and bobsled in order to analyse where any improvements can be made.</p>
<p><strong>How much of a speed advantage do you think the suits provided?</strong></p>
<p>A very liberal estimate of a 5% reduction in pressure drag would result in an approximate time saving of less than half a second. Most of the drag savings can be made just by an athlete having a sensible, close-fitting skin suit, which most of the athletes already have, further reducing the benefits of the ridges and 3D scanning.</p>
<p>So, the claims of a one-second advantage are exaggerated. But from my experience working in Formula One, it is marginal gains of fractions of a percent that can make the difference to the top athletes. Let’s not forget that Laura Deas only took her bronze by <a href="https://www.olympic.org/pyeongchang-2018/results/resOWG2018/pdf/OWG2018/SKN/OWG2018_SKN_C73B2_SKNWSINGLES-----------------------.pdf">a margin</a> of 0.02 seconds.</p>
<p><strong>Is this fair and if so, why isn’t everyone using them?</strong></p>
<p>The suits were checked by the sport’s governing body and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/feb/14/rival-athletes-legality-team-gb-skin-suit-winter-olympics">ruled to be legal</a>. Technology plays an important part in sports science. If it is correctly regulated to allow all competitors to profit from it, then this is a good thing. </p>
<p>The research that goes into drag reduction techniques could well be transferable to other engineering disciplines, which could have a benefit to the wider society. </p>
<p>I think that this is just an opportunity missed by other teams. Team GB has clearly invested in the technology aspect of sports. I would like to see more open funding for this type of research, so that more athletes can benefit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91936/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Martin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The science behind the suits that gave Britain's medal-winning athletes a crucial speed boost.Nicholas Martin, Senior Lecturer in Aerodynamics, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/918942018-02-18T21:26:31Z2018-02-18T21:26:31ZNorth Korean Sport Diplomacy: The Olympic event where everyone loses<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206680/original/file-20180215-131024-1m3p59j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of a North Korean delegation cheer while holding the unified Korea flag at the pairs figure skating free program at the Pyeonchang Winter Olympics on Feb. 15, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The message of the 2018 Pyeongchang “<a href="http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02500&amp;num=14996">Peace Olympics</a>” is clear. </p>
<p>Athletes using performance-enhancing drugs <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/for-olympic-athletes-from-russia-a-sense-of-unity-and-defiance/2018/02/14/2f9df634-114e-11e8-9570-29c9830535e5_story.html?utm_term=.354c9ceb3c02">will be exiled, stripped of national colours and shunned</a>. “Olympic Athletes from Russia” participating in the Winter Games are feeling such scorn.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, North Korea’s <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42955834">500-person Olympic delegation</a> — attending the Olympics under duress, constant surveillance and potential abuse —are venerated. The 22 athletes and some <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/12/sports/olympics/north-korean-cheerleaders.html">200 cheerleaders</a> — an Olympic first — bear as much resemblance to the Olympic values of “friendship, respect and excellence” as do the Harlem Globetrotters to the NBA championships. </p>
<p>This sets an alarming precedent. Banning Russia while embracing North Korea reveals the deeper moral value of the Olympics. </p>
<p>The International Olympic Committee <a href="https://www.olympic.org/fight-against-doping">opposes performance-enhancing drugs</a> that can carry an athlete to the podium. However, it remains eerily silent on how North Korea <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/15/sports-thrive-in-north-korea-despite-sanctions.html">pushes their athletes towards that same podium.</a></p>
<h2>‘Peaceful resolve’</h2>
<p>“<a href="https://www.olympic.org/olympic-truce">Olympic Truce</a>” dates back to ancient Greece. It allows athletes to travel safely to participate in Olympic events during times of conflict. North Korean athletes are in Pyeongchang under this edict. It is meant to build peaceful resolve to the Korean conflict. </p>
<p>But is diplomacy possible with North Korea? Kim Jong-un’s state of iron-fisted control breaks international agreements with impunity.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/kim-jong-un-is-a-gangster-heres-how-to-sort-him-out-89656">Kim Jong-un is a gangster: Here’s how to sort him out</a>
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<p>North Koreans are not seeing live footage of the 2018 Winter Games. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/world/asia/north-korea-olympics-television.html">At most, only small snippets through state-controlled media will enter the country</a>. As of today, North Korea has yet to broadcast any footage of the Olympics. </p>
<p>North Korean athletes will not interact with other delegations. They are under 24-hour surveillance by their North Korean minders. <a href="http://nationalpost.com/sports/olympics/to-avoid-defection-north-korea-olympic-athletes-kept-under-24-hour-guard-including-pee-breaks">Even washroom breaks are closely scrutinized</a>. While worried about potential defections, the North Korean regime is mostly concerned about defamation against it. South Korea even advised anti-North Korean <a href="https://www.upi.com/Human-rights-activists-defy-North-Koreas-Olympics-charm-offensive/9791518537471/">activists to “be quiet” during the Games</a>.</p>
<p>The process of becoming an elite athlete in North Korea is best described as “brutal.” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2014/09/29/world/asia/north-korea-defector-boxer/index.html">Choi Hyun Mi</a>, a North Korean boxer who defected in 2004, has described how North Korea creates Olympians. The government selected her at the age of 11 to box. Food was used for both control and incentive. Fight harder, and you will eat more. Falter, and you will starve. </p>
<h2>Abused and condemned</h2>
<p>Demoralizing tasks are doled out to those who perform poorly. Choi recalls how athletes were forced to stand in front of crowds to be publicly abused and condemned if they fail to win. </p>
<p>“Shaming was particularly bad to competitors who lost to rivals from South Korea, Japan or the United States,” she said.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206688/original/file-20180215-131021-sj1476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206688/original/file-20180215-131021-sj1476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=434&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206688/original/file-20180215-131021-sj1476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=434&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206688/original/file-20180215-131021-sj1476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=434&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206688/original/file-20180215-131021-sj1476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=546&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206688/original/file-20180215-131021-sj1476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=546&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206688/original/file-20180215-131021-sj1476.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=546&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik of North Korea perform in the pairs free skate figure skating final in the Gangneung Ice Arena at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, on Feb. 15, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)</span></span>
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<p>There will be consequences if any of the North Korean delegates err from the script. The regime monitors the families of its athletes, and occasionally holds them as collateral. Speaking off script, or causing shame to the leader or the regime in any way, can result in detention and political <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/new-images-show-north-koreas-extensive-network-of-re-education-camps/2017/10/25/894afc1c-b9a7-11e7-9b93-b97043e57a22_story.html?utm_term=.4603ddb1ef74">re-education.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/north-korea/galleries/what-you-didn-t-know-about-north-korea/there-s-a-three-generations-of-punishment-rule/">Three generations can be punished</a> in North Korea if a family member is suspected of defamation of the leader, espionage or contact with foreigners. </p>
<p>To such accounts of human rights abuses, the International Olympic Committee turns a blind eye. But to weed out performance-enhancing dopers, it will scour every last drop of urine.</p>
<p><a href="https://theafricanfile.com/politicshistory/sports-diplomacy-and-apartheid-south-africa/">Sport diplomacy can be an effective means of engagement</a>. The Olympics has in the past shown the communality of sport <a href="https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/19941803458">between Soviet and Western nations</a>. <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/hockey-put-canadas-cold-war-perceptions-on-ice/article4510769/">The 1972 Canada/Soviet Union Summit Series</a> was a moment of nationalist fervour and served as a diplomatic gateway to view the other side as human beings passionate about a sport both countries adore.</p>
<h2>Great political moment</h2>
<p>In 1991, pending the collapse of the Soviet Union, <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13169/intejcubastud.5.1.0026">Cuba hosted the Pan-American games to open up to its neighbours</a>. The 1995 Rugby World Cup <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/016344398020004006">is credited as an important diplomatic moment</a> for post-Apartheid South Africa. </p>
<p>But in what sense can there be sport diplomacy with a regime willing to punish family members of athletes, and one that systematically abuses its athletes as part of their Olympic training? </p>
<p>The theme “Peace Olympics” and the Olympic Truce imply that politics are put on hold, but for North Korea, Pyeongchang is a great political moment. It is a chance to capitalize on the world’s fascination about the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-korea-the-hermit-kingdom/">Hermit Kingdom,</a> while turning a blind eye to the gruesome human rights abuses within the regime. </p>
<p>Make no mistake, sending some 200 female cheerleaders to the Olympics makes for a fantastic diversion from the fact that most North Korean refugees are women,
and many are <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2100944/seeking-refuge-slavery-how-north-koreans-become-victims">trafficked into the sex trade in China</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="http://theconversation.com/a-terrible-fate-awaits-north-korean-women-who-escape-to-china-82992">A terrible fate awaits North Korean women who escape to China</a>
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<p>The Olympics are also an opportunity to have direct talks free of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/world/asia/trump-tweet-button-north-korea.html">Donald Trump’s dim-witted Tweets</a> about North Korea. But seeking sport diplomacy with North Korea sets a precedent that overlooks human rights abuses, and even validates them as a means to engagement. </p>
<p>So let it be declared that doping and sport diplomacy do not mix. But as North Korea shows, hunger, abuse and propaganda represent a path to the medal podium.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91894/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Huish receives funding from the Social Science Humanities Research Council of Canada</span></em></p>The International Olympic Committee has banished dopers from the Winter Games. Shame it hasn't treated North Korea, a noted human rights violator, with the same resolve.Robert Huish, Associate Professor in International Development Studies, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/912182018-02-15T00:04:13Z2018-02-15T00:04:13ZAthletes are the most important part of the Olympics. Or are they?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205853/original/file-20180211-51694-1xceptt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir lead Team Canada into the stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-COC, Jason Ransom</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is an indescribable feeling for an athlete to walk into the opening ceremonies of an Olympic Games. I still get chills thinking about that moment for me at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing when I represented Canada as a high jumper.</p>
<p>Standing shoulder to shoulder with my teammates, there was a realization we were on the doorstep of something great that was about to begin. The journey to become an Olympic athlete may have been different for each of us, but there is a shared appreciation for how hard it is to get to the Olympic Games.</p>
<p>Sports provide athletes with a unique quality, where they are both the consumer and producer of an event. The success of the Olympic Games and any major sporting event is dependent upon the performances of its athletes. To have a great result, the conditions must be optimal.</p>
<p>From the athletes’ village to competition venues, a positive experience is essential to ensure a great performance. Understanding the needs of the athletes becomes critical to conduct a successful Games. </p>
<p>Establishing an “athlete-centred” sporting experience has become a ubiquitous pledge of various sport enterprises, including the International Olympic Committee. Even Sport Canada has identified an athlete-centred experience as a factor that provides a leading edge when it comes to high performance.</p>
<p>However, what does it really mean to be athlete-centred? </p>
<h2>Athletes involved in decision making</h2>
<p>Some researchers have offered a holistic definition, in which athletes are included in the decision-making process. Some have explained it as encompassing the wellbeing of an athlete, while others have defined it as empowering the athlete and providing a sense of belonging.</p>
<p>AthletesCAN, the official voice of all Canadian national team athletes, has determined “athlete centred” to be both a concept and a process, underpinning <a href="http://athletescan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Athlete-Centered-Sport1.pdf">“the planning, delivery and procedures of organizing sport</a>.”</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205854/original/file-20180211-51703-1tegf2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205854/original/file-20180211-51703-1tegf2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=483&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205854/original/file-20180211-51703-1tegf2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=483&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205854/original/file-20180211-51703-1tegf2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=483&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205854/original/file-20180211-51703-1tegf2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=607&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205854/original/file-20180211-51703-1tegf2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=607&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205854/original/file-20180211-51703-1tegf2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=607&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The author of this article, Nicole Forrester, competes in the high jump at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz</span></span>
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<p>For a term recognized as important in the world of sport, it has failed to be adequately defined. While definitions vary, allowing athletes to have a say in their well-being appears to be a central theme.</p>
<p>In professional sports leagues, player associations ensure the best interests of athletes are served. In amateur sport there are limited associations <em>by</em> athletes <em>for</em> athletes.</p>
<p>Recently, the <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/volleyball/kerri-walsh-jennings-pro-beach-volleyball-players-union-1.4521451">International Beach Volleyball Players Association</a> was formed out of protest to changes made by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball without the input of athletes. As a result of these changes, beach volleyball players experienced diminished prize earnings and cancelled tournaments. </p>
<p>Likewise, <a href="https://sports.vice.com/en_au/article/yp8pwg/cash-strapped-track-and-field-athletes-still-fighting-to-unionize">track and field athletes have been working to become unionized</a> for several years. This is a conversation I can remember having with other athletes while I was competing as a high jumper at the international level.</p>
<h2>Restrictions on sponsorships</h2>
<p>One main issue when it comes to athletes’s rights centres around sponsorship. Compared to NASCAR, Formula One Racing or cycling, where athletes can sport numerous sponsor logos on their uniforms, the International Athletic Association Federation, the governing body for track and field, restricts athletes to only one logo no larger than six centimetres.</p>
<p>Rule 40, an <a href="https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/IOC/What-We-Do/Protecting-Clean-Athletes/Athletes-Space/Rule-40-Rio-2016-QA-for-Athletes.pdf">IOC by-law which restricts athletes</a> from having their image or performance used for marketing during the Olympic Games, was challenged going into the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.</p>
<p>Athletes argued the IOC reaped the rewards of sponsorship and broadcasting revenue, while leaving athletes — the stars of the show — out in the cold. Because athletes raised so much concern about Rule 40, the IOC has lessened this restriction on athletes, permitting sponsors <a href="https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2017/03/27/Olympics/Rule-40-Winter-Games.aspx">to apply for Rule 40 waivers that would enable them to continue to market athletes during the Games period.</a></p>
<p>As we watch the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, it’s worth evaluating whether athletes are actually the most important part of the Olympics.</p>
<h2>Many controversies facing IOC</h2>
<p>Considering the controversies surrounding the selection of host cities, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jan/25/ioc-rules-transgender-athletes-can-take-part-in-olympics-without-surgery">transgender athletes competing in the Olympic Games</a> and the IOC’s ruling on Russian athletes competing in Rio during 2016 and <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/ioc-russia-doping-1.4432781">this year in Pyeongchang,</a> it is reasonable to question the IOC’s commitment to being athlete centred.</p>
<p>Even drug testing procedures, which require athletes to report their whereabouts for three months in advance as prescribed by the World Anti-Doping Agency — an organization initiated by the IOC — has come under fire for infringing on <a href="http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&amp;context=sportslaw">athletes’ freedom</a>.</p>
<p>While these concerns are valid, I would still argue the IOC does indeed strive to be athlete-centred.</p>
<p>The IOC’s very mission places the interest of athletes at the centre of the Olympic movement. Evidence of this is seen with the 12-member elected IOC’s Athletes’ Commission. Its mandate involves representing the views of athletes and advising the IOC Session, the IOC Executive Board and the IOC President on decisions affecting athletes.</p>
<p>As someone who has served on the Athletes Commission for the Canadian Olympic Committee, I can attest that whenever an athlete speaks up, everyone listens. </p>
<h2>Weighing in on Russian athletes</h2>
<p>Amid the Russian doping scandal that has shrouded the last several Olympic Games, athletes have been able to weigh in and influence key decisions. To assist with establishing the pool of clean Russian athletes to be considered for an invitation to compete in Pyeongchang, the Olympic Athlete from Russia Implementation Group (OARIG) was formed.</p>
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<span class="caption">Russian athletes who were banned from marching under their country’s flag file into the stadium during the opening ceremony for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span>
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<p>This three-person committee, which includes IOC Athletes Commission member Danka Bartekova, IOC Executive Board Member Nicole Hoevertsz and IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper, was afforded <a href="https://www.olympic.org/news/olympic-athlete-from-russia-oar-invitation-review-panel-discusses-objectives-and-methodology">sole and absolute discretion of removing any proposed names of athletes, officials and staff considered for invitation. In this case, the athlete’s voice represents one third of the votes</a>. </p>
<p>Additionally, members of the global network of athletes’ representatives were also able to offer their thoughts on the matter in a conference call earlier this year. The IOC asserts athletes have been involved in “<a href="https://www.olympic.org/athlete365/voice/a-level-playing-field-for-athletes-in-pyeongchang/">every step of the process</a>,” determining which athletes from Russia should be allowed to compete in Pyeongchang while ensuring fairness was demonstrated.</p>
<p>This interest in the wellbeing of athletes is not limited to the Pyeongchang Games. The IOC supports an <a href="https://www.olympic.org/olympic-studies-centre/research-grant-programmes">Olympic Study Centre grant program</a> designed to advance research as it pertains to the Olympic Movement.</p>
<p>Over the years, there has been an increased interest in understanding how the IOC can best service the needs of athletes — both while they are competing and following retirement. One field of interest in the 2018 grant involves examining the IOC’s historical and future support of Olympians.</p>
<p>Similarly, the organizing committee of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo has said one of its objectives is to be an athlete-centred Games. Recognizing the importance of the athlete’s experience in delivering a successful event, the IOC’s Athlete’s Commission will advise the organizing committee on various aspects of the Games.</p>
<p>This can include the layout of the athletes’ village, the food provided, the location of venues and the scheduling of events. This list is endless and the rewards invaluable. What is most important here is that athletes’ perspectives are heard and valued.</p>
<p>When it comes to being athlete centred, it is important to realize how far we’ve come, while also not losing sight of where we are going. Being athlete-centred is a process in constant evolution. Continuing to include the voices of athletes is our only assurance of achieving this goal.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205860/original/file-20180211-51694-2gu4ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205860/original/file-20180211-51694-2gu4ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=379&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205860/original/file-20180211-51694-2gu4ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=379&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205860/original/file-20180211-51694-2gu4ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=379&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205860/original/file-20180211-51694-2gu4ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=476&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205860/original/file-20180211-51694-2gu4ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=476&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205860/original/file-20180211-51694-2gu4ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=476&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Members of Great Britain’s Olympic team pose for a photo after a welcoming ceremony at the Pyeongchang Olympic Village ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)</span></span>
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</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91218/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole W. Forrester does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It would seem obvious athletes are the most important part of the Olympics. But competing issues, from sponsorship rules to politics, means the rights of athletes aren't always the top priority.Nicole W. Forrester, Assistant Professor, School of Media, Ryerson UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/905252018-02-12T11:40:50Z2018-02-12T11:40:50ZPyeongchang's heartwarming cuisine<p>As a middle schooler growing up in South Korea, I still vividly remember the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. At the time, the country <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jul/18/local/me-23429">was a burgeoning democracy</a>, and South Koreans were proud of hosting an international mega event. </p>
<p>I’ve since become a hospitality professor and researcher in the U.S. And thanks to the growing popularity of Korean culture (dubbed the “<a href="http://www.economist.com/node/15385735">Hallyu</a>” or “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Wave">Korean Wave</a>”), I tend to get asked a lot about Korean food. </p>
<p>Now, 30 years later, South Korea’s second Olympic Games – and its first Winter Games – are being held in Pyeongchang in Gangwon province (or Gangwon-do). Coincidentally, I recently received a message from a former student who was planning to visit Pyeongchang because her cousin, Jacqueline Wiles, will be competing for the U.S. alpine ski team. </p>
<p>She wanted to know more about the foods she should try. </p>
<p>“Lucky you,” I thought, “because there are almost too many to name.”</p>
<h2>The ingredients of ‘the potato valley’</h2>
<p>With its beautiful landscapes and relaxed beach towns, Gangwon-do is known as one of the best and most convenient <a href="https://wherewouldyougo.com/destinations/asia/5-days-gangwon-do/">winter escapes</a> for many Seoulites. </p>
<p>Located along the eastern coast of the peninsula in northeast South Korea, the region faces the East Sea. But about three-quarters of the province is covered by mountainous forest, which means there’s very little farmland. The province is divided into two regions: Yeongseo in the west and Yeongdong in the east, where Pyeongchang is located.</p>
<p>Such an environment – surrounded by mountains but bordering the sea – creates the conditions <a href="http://koreatourinformation.com/blog/2013/12/30/food-tourism-2-gangwon-province/">for cuisine that’s unique to the region</a>.</p>
<p>Dishes tend to include some combination of potato, corn, buckwheat or seafood. (In Korea, people from Gangwon-do are actually called “folks from Potato Valley.”) </p>
<p>In the Yeongdong region, seafood is a main fare. At the Jumunjin Fish Market, the largest fish market on South Korea’s east coast, vendors sell red snow crab, octopus, mackerel, sole, flounder and a whole medley of sashimi. Nearby restaurants <a href="http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SHP/SH_EN_7_2.jsp?cid=1070045">will cook seafood by request</a>, either steaming, boiling, grilling, frying, or even including it in a soup or stew.</p>
<p>In the Yeongseo region – with its rocky terrain – potato, millet, corn, buckwheat and mountain vegetables are the main ingredients in most dishes. <a href="http://m.korea.net/english/NewsFocus/Travel/view?articleId=145338&amp;page=1">Potatoes will be used</a> for pastas, pancakes, dumplings or snacks. </p>
<p>Overall, the province’s food is simple, healthy, and can appeal to a global palate. The cooking method – which accentuates the natural flavors and aromas of the ingredients – is also rather uncomplicated. </p>
<h2>Simple, heartwarming fare</h2>
<p>The following are a sampling of several delicious dishes that are typical of the region.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamja-ongsimi">Gamja ongsimi</a> – a potato dumpling soup – is a vegetarian option. The potatoes are grated, drained, squeezed, and mixed with potato starch. Then it’s boiled in a broth with vegetables. This is a popular winter dish.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205757/original/file-20180209-51727-qub8c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205757/original/file-20180209-51727-qub8c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205757/original/file-20180209-51727-qub8c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205757/original/file-20180209-51727-qub8c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205757/original/file-20180209-51727-qub8c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=502&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205757/original/file-20180209-51727-qub8c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=502&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205757/original/file-20180209-51727-qub8c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=502&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Gamja-ongsimi is a potato dumpling soup that’s popular during the winter months.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gamja-ongsimi.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>A soft tofu called <a href="http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Travel/view?articleId=144899">Chodang sundubu</a> is another vegetarian option. During the congealing process – which goes through several steps – salt water from the East Sea is used. This is a soft, light version of tofu, perfect for a soup or stew. But my favorite way of eating it is eating fresh – after steaming it with a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil. It’s so light and soft that it’s almost like eating ice cream. </p>
<p>Dakgalbi (spicy stir-fried chicken with vegetables) and makguksu (buckwheat noodle) are two dishes – <a href="http://www.greysuitcase.net/blog/2014/8/23/dakgalbi-makguksu">usually served together</a> – that are popular in Chuncheon, the capital of Gangwon-do. The dakgalbi is seasoned and deboned chicken stir-fried with sliced rice cake, sweet potato, perilla leaves and cabbage. In restaurants, the spicy, sweet and meaty dish is usually served on the same tableside hot grill that it’s been cooked on. Its companion, makguksu, is a buckwheat noodle served either in a chilled broth or with a sauce. The harmony of heat and coldness showcase the yin and yang of this frugal but filling meal. </p>
<p>Finally, there’s <a href="http://www.kfoodstory.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=3601">osam bulgogi</a>, which is spicy stir-fried squid and pork bulgogi. Bulgogi – pork marinated in a sweet and spicy sauce – is one of the most well-known Korean dishes, and popular with many foreigners. But the Gangwon-do version mixes squid with the pork. Freshly caught from the East Sea, the squid transforms the dish into a surf and turf. </p>
<p>The PyeongChang Organizing Committee has built a “<a href="https://www.pyeongchang2018.com/sustainability/reports/PyeongChang2018_POCOG_Food_Vision.pdf">K-Food Dome</a>” near the Olympic Plaza, where tourists will have the opportunity to sample the local fare.</p>
<p>No matter what they choose, they’ll be able to enjoy warm, hearty food – the perfect end to a day spent in the frigid mountains.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90525/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Soo Kang does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The mountainous Gangwon province, home of the 2018 Olympics, boasts some unique fare. A Korean professor describes her favorite dishes, from Korean surf and turf to tofu as soft as ice cream.Soo Kang, Associate Professor of Hospitality Management, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/905692018-02-12T10:05:26Z2018-02-12T10:05:26ZNorth and South Korea extend hands of peace after symbolic Olympic opening ceremony<p>It was choreographed to make a statement. Athletes from North and Korea entered the Olympic stadium together as a unified team at the opening ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. They wore the same outfit and marched behind the Korean unification flag, which was carried in tandem by a North and South Korean athlete. </p>
<p>Later on, two Korean women ice hockey players, one from each country, carried the torch together on its final leg up a block of steep stairs to reach the Olympic cauldron.</p>
<p>In a short speech, Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committe, <a href="https://ca.reuters.com/article/canadaSportsNews/idCAKBN1FT1KX-OCASP">said</a>: “We are all touched by this wonderful gesture.” This was a fair reflection of the emotional atmosphere in the stadium. </p>
<p>The South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, could not have hoped for more powerful images and supportive responses to his courageous approach to dealing with North Korea. He had <a href="https://theconversation.com/north-and-south-korea-to-unite-at-winter-olympics-here-are-the-hidden-agendas-behind-this-sports-diplomacy-90280">got the ball rolling</a> back in June 2017 when he invited North Korea to attend these Olympic Games.</p>
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<p>The opening ceremony was attended by dozens of high-profile politicians from all over the world. The presence of Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was unexpected and momentous. She was suitably seated next to the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is twice her age and has lived half of his life <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09523360802602273?journalCode=fhsp20">in a divided society</a>. </p>
<p>She was also right behind Moon Jae-in, who found himself sandwiched between Kim Yo-jong and Mike Pence, the US vice-president – a symbolism which was very likely unintended but succinctly captured his current political position and dilemma.</p>
<p>Although Pence is unlikely to talk to Kim Yo-jong or any of her high-ranking entourage, there is a strong likelihood that members of the South Korean government will have official meetings with them during their visit. </p>
<p>An agenda for these may have been set at the lunch meeting with Moon Jae-in on February 10 in the presidential Blue House in Seoul. Kim Yo-jong <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/10/kim-yo-jong-meets-south-korean-president-in-seoul-as-thaw-continues">delivered a personal</a> letter from her brother to the South Korean president, which contained an invitation to visit Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, for a political summit as soon as possible. </p>
<p>After the historic <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/09/sport/winter-olympics-opening-ceremony-intl/index.html">handshake</a> between Moon Jae-in and Kim Yo-jong at the opening ceremony, such a visit would be an extremely significant moment in inter-Korean relations with possibly far-reaching consequences. While the US president, Donald Trump, has so far been opposed to dialogue with North Korea, after his visit to South Korea, Pence <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2018-northkorea/pence-raises-prospect-of-talks-with-north-korea-amid-intensified-pressure-idUSKBN1FW07K">indicated that talks</a> were not out of the question. </p>
<h2>Global branding exercise</h2>
<p>Opening ceremonies of mega sports events, in particular Olympic extravaganzas, traditionally serve two main functions. They provide the citizens of the host country with a sense of self and contribute to their national identity and pride. And they are a high-profile marketing opportunity to portray a positive image of the host country to an international audience and are often part of a <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137394927">wider nation branding strategy</a>. </p>
<p>These cultural spectacles have also become prominent public forums for the hosts to communicate <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Power-Politics-and-International-Events-Socio-cultural-Analyses-of-Festivals/Merkel/p/book/9780415624466">explicit political statements</a> to the rest of the world. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing’s impressive and colourful but, in parts, also intimidating opening ceremony was widely celebrated as a political “coming-out party”. It stressed that the country was ready, and keen, to embrace global society. </p>
<p>Guests also use these opening ceremonies as a platform for profound political statements. Between 1998 and 2008, North and South Korea marched together behind the unification flag at the opening ceremonies of the Summer and Winter Olympics in Sydney, Athens and Turin, and at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan and the 2003 Aomori Winter Games. This symbolism was meant to emphasise that while Korea remains one of the very few politically divided countries in the world, reunification remained on the agenda of <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1012690208098254">their respective governments</a>.</p>
<h2>Symbols and statements in Pyeongchang</h2>
<p>Pyeongchang’s colourful and entertaining opening ceremony used several symbols to stress some fundamental political positions of the recently elected South Korean government. Moon Jae-in’s foreign policy towards North Korea will be framed by the principles of engagement and rapprochement.</p>
<p>In comparison to the Beijing spectacle, the ceremony came across as a more low-key, more modern, less rigid and more vibrant performance. It celebrated past and present achievements of individual Korean athletes and did not hesitate to add an element of K-pop, Korean pop. It also repeatedly praised South Korea’s massive and continuous contributions to the digital revolution, and growing global interconnectedness. In comparison to other mega sports events that the country has hosted, it showed an unprecedented degree of self confidence. </p>
<p>The show – entitled Peace in Motion – was both inward and outward looking. It covered South Korea’s past and present achievements, and consolidated and promoted the country’s sense of national and pan-Korean identity. </p>
<p>Similar to Beijing, the overarching themes were harmony, peace, and unity. Peace was rather simplistically portrayed as the inevitable outcome of connection and communication: five children went on “on a quest for peace” and spectators heard John Lennon’s Imagine, performed by four South Korean singers. There were also doves and a combination of candle light and water, which marks peace in Korean mythology. </p>
<p>The remainder of the 2018 Winter Olympics will show whether this event is indeed an important stepping stone in resuscitating serious political talks between the two Korean governments or, as <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/north-korea-south-korea-winter-olympics-kim-yongnam-dont-be-fooled-a8195316.html">some commentators</a> have suggested, a meaningless, short-lived North Korean charm offensive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90569/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Udo Merkel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Teams from both countries marched into opening ceremony under the unified Korea flag.Dr Udo Merkel, Senior Lecturer in Events Management, University of BrightonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/912692018-02-12T09:42:42Z2018-02-12T09:42:42ZWinter Olympics: how athletes adapt to competing in the bitter cold<p>In the days before the Winter Olympics began, athletes reported that the weather in PyeongChang, South Korea was so cold that some ski equipment <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2018-alps-skis/cold-weather-turning-skis-to-garbage-in-pyeongchang-idUSKBN1FR0F5">had warped</a>. There are suggestions the games <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/08/sport/pyeongchang-olympics-cold-weather-trnd/index.html">could be some</a> of the coldest on record. </p>
<p>The Winter Olympics represent the pinnacle of four years of intensive training and competition for the world’s best winter sports athletes. These athletes will have spent thousands of hours planning, training and finetuning their performances in preparation for their time on the Olympic stage. </p>
<p>The one thing they cannot control is the weather. But they can prepare to adapt to the cold competition environment and employ <a href="https://www.digitaltrends.com/wearables/smart-clothing-is-the-future-of-wearables/">smart clothing</a>, enhanced by technology, to maximise their chances of winning a medal. </p>
<h2>What the cold does to our bodies</h2>
<p>Researchers are divided about whether exercise in the cold has a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10066703">positive</a> or <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Effect+of+ambient+temperature+on+endurance+performance+while+wearing+cross-country+skiing+clothing">negative</a> impact on sporting performance.</p>
<p>Exposure to the cold causes an initial reduction in skin temperature followed by a drop in core body temperature. In order to defend against a damaging decline in body temperature and the onset of hypothermia, the body reduces blood flow to the skin and generates its own heat through shivering. Redistribution of blood flow is one of the primary defence mechanisms in the face of cold exposure. However, in the extremities, this mechanism causes a loss of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9843526">dexterity in the fingers</a> and toes. This has a detrimental effects in sports such as <a href="http://www.biathlonworld.com/">biathlon</a>, where fine finger movement and control is vital during the shooting parts of the competition.</p>
<p>If exposure to the cold continues, a further drop in body temperature can occur which lowers muscle temperature. Muscles need to be warm in order to produce powerful contractions so this can have a negative impact on power events, such as in the bobsleigh and skeleton, where generating optimal muscle power is vital in powering the sled or skeleton <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ntgfAb736c">down the start ramp</a>. Increasing muscle temperature, through the use of a warm-up, is vital for improving muscle function, especially as for every 1°C increase in muscle temperature, there is a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3678224">2% increase in the power a muscle</a> can produce.</p>
<h2>Beating the cold</h2>
<p>Unlike frequent <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28177747">exposure to the heat</a>, adaptation to the cold is an incredibly slow process. There are three main steps to this process. </p>
<p>If you repeatedly expose yourself to a stimulus, such as the cold, your body does get used to it. The more used you get to the cold, the less your body reacts to it, so you may shiver less or have less of a change in blood flow. If you repeatedly took a cold bath or shower day on consecutive days, you would gradually <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4580772/">get used to the cold temperatures</a>. This process appears to involve a reduction in the shock response generated by the nervous system on exposure to the cold.</p>
<p>After prolonged exposure to the cold lasting many days or weeks, a person’s resting metabolic rate gradually <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26924539">increases</a> as a result of the body generating more heat as a byproduct of converting food to energy.</p>
<p>Habituation to the cold can also increase the insulation of the body core and result in improved retention of body heat, as less blood flows to the skin and so less heat is lost to the surrounding environment. Another effect of longer-term adaptation is an increase in body fat, which helps to preserve body temperature. However, this response is often very slow, occurring over <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/31/12829094/inuit-greenland-denisovan-genome-cold-brown-fat">many generations of living in a cold environment</a>.</p>
<p>Some of these responses to the cold will be unlikely to occur in the short term. But, following years of training in the cold mountains, athletes are likely to have experienced cold adaptation which will help boost their performance.</p>
<h2>The role of technology</h2>
<p>Clothes, particularly those enhanced by technology, can help athletes to maintain the optimal body temperature required to achieve peak performance. Research has found that increasing clothing insulation via <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22935735">electrical heating</a> pads within a garment during a warm-up and immediately after a sprint has positive benefits on performance. </p>
<p>In explosive sports such as the skeleton and bobsleigh, where the speed achieved during the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MUs_Ftqi2c">sprint start</a> has a huge impact on the overall time of the sled, maintaining muscle temperature is very important. In a series of studies, my colleagues and I demonstrated that wearing these heating garments reduced the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23974847">decline in muscle temperature</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22935735">improved sprinting performance</a>. In essence, the effect was similar to that used in Formula 1 when technicians wrap tyre warmers around a car’s wheels to increase the temperature and maximise grip on the track. </p>
<p>Similar technology is now being employed by a number of athletes during the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-19063554">Summer</a> and Winter Olympic Games to maximise their performance potential. Research into this technology is <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/team-gbs-cutting-edge-uk-sport-is-more-than-ever-using-the-latest-military-technology-secrets-to-8869938.html">often supported by national federations</a> in order to help their athletes perform at their peak.</p>
<p>So, as you watch the athletes competing in Pyeongchang, spare a thought for the immense effort that has got these athletes to the games. Not only their commitment to training, and technological development, but the ways in which their bodies have adapted to be able to perform near the edge of human capability in such an extreme environment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91269/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Techniques and technology can help athletes perform at their best even in freezing temperatures.Steve Faulkner, Senior lecturer, Nottingham Trent UniversityKaty Griggs, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science, Oxford Brookes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/912102018-02-09T17:01:14Z2018-02-09T17:01:14ZHow a thrill-seeking personality helps Olympic athletes<p>One of the main draws of the Winter Olympics is the opportunity to witness some of the most exciting and nail-biting athletic feats. </p>
<p>The daring events include the bobsled and downhill skiing. Then there’s the terrifying skeleton: Imagine barreling down a narrow chute of twisted ice-coated concrete at 125 miles per hour. Now imagine doing that head first, like a human battering ram. </p>
<p>Athletes train for years for these events, but most of these elite athletes possess something that helps them succeed during these high-stakes events: their personality.</p>
<p>Some people have a personality trait that helps them focus in highly chaotic environments like the ones you’ll see during the Winter Olympics. It’s called a high sensation-seeking personality, and it’s a trait that, as a psychologist, I’ve long been fascinated with.</p>
<h2>Calm in the face of danger</h2>
<p>To some extent, we all crave complex and new experiences – that is, we all seek new sensations. </p>
<p>Whether it’s our attraction to the latest shiny gadget or the newest fashion trend, novelty tugs at us. But even though we all share an interest in new sensations, what sets high sensation-seeking personalities apart is that they crave these exotic and intense experiences to an extent that they’re willing to risk their health.</p>
<p>What’s amazing is that some high sensation-seeking individuals experience less stress and are fearless and calm in the face of danger. For example, 2014 Olympic slalom gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin tears down mountains at speeds of 80 mph. But she recently <a href="https://view.imirus.com/209/document/12827/page/34">told Sky Magazine</a> that the experience can feel like it unfolds in slow motion while she’s “finding a way to control the controllable.”</p>
<p>There’s <a href="http://www.dana.org/News/Details.aspx?id=43484">neurological evidence</a> to back up the sense of calm that athletes like Shiffrin feel in midst of chaos and danger. </p>
<p>You may have heard of <a href="https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/what-is-cortisol#1">cortisol</a> – it’s the “fight or flight” hormone, and it can make us feel stressed and overwhelmed. </p>
<p>However, when people with high sensation-seeking personalities have intense experiences, they don’t produce that much cortisol. On top of that, they produce higher levels of “pleasure” chemicals like dopamine. </p>
<p>What’s more, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4763828/">researchers have found</a> that people with high sensation-seeking personalities have increased sensitivity to things that could be rewarding (like landing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfSf8QZwHwY">a perfect switch backside 1620</a>) and decreased sensitivity to potential dangers (like the fear of wiping out after doing a triple jump).</p>
<p>High sensation-seeking isn’t exclusive to Winter Olympians, of course. It can creep into every aspect of life, influencing the way you interact with other people, the things you do for fun, the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0191886986901364">music you like</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9316713">the way you drive</a> and even the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0191886994901791">jokes you tell</a>.</p>
<h2>Leaping before you look</h2>
<p>In the 1950s, while studying sensory deprivation, psychologist <a href="http://www.euroformhealthcare.biz/temperament-traits/the-biological-theory-of-sensation-seeking-developed-by-zuckerman.html">Robert Zuckerman</a> stumbled upon this sensation-seeking trait. Zuckerman was eventually able to show that sensation-seeking is made up of four distinct components. </p>
<p>Each contributes to an individual’s unique way of seeking (or avoiding) sensation. (And you can actually <a href="http://buzz.drkencarter.com">take a test</a> to see where you fall for each of these four components on the sensation-seeking scale.)</p>
<p>The first two – thrill-seeking and experience-seeking – were mentioned earlier. But the sensation-seeking personality trait also involves disinhibition and boredom susceptibility.</p>
<p>Disinhibition has to do with our willingness to be spontaneous and our ability to let loose. People with low levels of disinhibition always look before they leap. Those high in disinhibition? They just leap. </p>
<p>Boredom susceptibility boils down to your ability to tolerate the absence of external stimuli. Those with high scores in boredom susceptibility dislike repetition: They tire easily of predictable or dull people, and they get restless when forced to perform mundane tasks. </p>
<p>This last component might be the toughest thing for Olympic athletes who are high-sensation seekers to deal with. In order to be a successful Olympian, you need to spend countless hours practicing dull, repetitive workouts and drills.</p>
<p>It’s easy to see how all of these aspects of sensation-seeking personalities might exist in Olympic athletes, whether it’s a snowboarder experimenting with a daring new trick or a hockey forward navigating a puck through a maze of defenders. </p>
<p>People with high sensation-seeking personalities don’t just crave these situations. In those moments, they’re in their element. Where a low sensation-seeking person might crumble, they thrive. </p>
<p>So when you’re watching the Winter Olympics and wondering how the athletes can handle the pressures and dangers of competition, just remember: For some of them, chaos and intensity are secret weapons of success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91210/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenneth Carter ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d&#39;une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n&#39;a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son poste universitaire.</span></em></p>When faced with chaos or danger, most people retreat. Not so for those who possess a certain personality trait.Kenneth Carter, Charles Howard Professor of Psychology, Oxford College, Emory UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/907352018-02-09T12:10:25Z2018-02-09T12:10:25ZHow freestyle skiers and snowboarders learn to pace their fear<p>Imagine a sport that involves the grace of a ballerina, the skills of a gymnast and carries some genuine danger. This is freeskiing and snowboarding, which form a central part of the Winter Olympics. There is <a href="https://www.olympic.org/freestyle-skiing/slopestyle-men">slopestyle</a> – think a skate park on snow with rails and jumps. And <a href="https://www.olympic.org/freestyle-skiing/halfpipe-women">half pipe</a> – a deep trench along which athletes do tumbling tricks in a sequence. And new to the PyeongChang games is <a href="https://www.pyeongchang2018.com/en/sports/snowboard">big air</a>, in which snowboarders take a run at a take-off ramp, then fly through the air, tumbling as they go. </p>
<p>All these events are scored by a judging panel who look for style as much as difficulty. But most of the moves these athletes perform are highly dangerous. And they have to do them over and over in practice, as well as in the high-pressure environment of competition, where looking smooth and in control are part of the judging criteria. </p>
<p>At the PyeongChang Olympics, I have the pleasure of working with New Zealand Ski and Snowboard as a psychologist. Working with any athlete to prepare for a competition is a fascinating challenge. Lots of this work uses conventional mental skills such as imagery or mentally rehearsing the jump, training how to stop negative thoughts and setting goals. </p>
<p>But there are a few extra psychological tools which are particularly relevant to freesking and snowboarding – and one in particular, which I call “emotional periodisation”. </p>
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<h2>Peaking at the right moment</h2>
<p>Periodisation has traditionally been used by physiologists and conditioners when designing training. The workload for an athlete is deliberately varied, or “periodised”, in an attempt to ensure the athlete peaks at specific events. For example, Usain Bolt might start his year with a high volume of training on endurance and strength. As the season approaches, he would then cut down the volume and up the intensity – moving towards shorter bursts of training at higher workload and power. During the season, or just before he needs to reach his peak, Bolt would do relatively few sessions at 100% intensity. Quantity has progressed to quality.</p>
<p>The idea of “emotional periodisation” is doing the same thing – but focusing on the intense emotional effort invested in planning, acquiring and executing new ski or snowboard tricks, which may be dangerous. The effort needed to do this contrasts with the comparatively straightforward need to focus on simpler, well-rehearsed skills. </p>
<p>For physical training, the concept has come in for some recent criticism. Some researchers <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230756715_Periodization_Paradigms_in_the_21st_Century_Evidence-Led_or_Tradition-Driven">have questioned</a> whether the same training programme can really generate predictable outcomes in a range of different athletes. But my ongoing research is showing that emotional periodisation has all sorts of applications to psychological pressures – so long as individual differences between athletes are addressed in designing the programme.</p>
<p>Downtime is important, offering recuperation and ensuring enjoyment. Reflecting this, plans are built around the amount of mental energy an athlete needs across each day, week or month in order to try tricks that could result in serious injury. Knowing yourself and auditing this with others is another important factor. This is because extreme challenge sports carry the risk of what researchers have called “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306401957_Crust_L_Swann_C_Allen-Collinson_J_2016_The_devil_on_your_shoulder_A_phenomenological_study_of_mental_toughness_and_decision-making_in_elite_high-altitude_mountaineers">costly perseverance</a>” – keeping on keeping on when you aren’t on top form can have very serious consequences.</p>
<h2>Push – drill – play</h2>
<p>But the athlete must also know when to push themselves to do a new trick. However scary and challenging that push is, without it there is no progress. Working out how to pace yourself helps to boost returns from the high challenge moments.</p>
<p>The New Zealand coaches have developed a structure of “push – drill – play” which offers a simple but powerful way of planning, interacting and monitoring the emotional load. </p>
<p>On push days the skier or snowboarder works at maximum intensity to build the skills they need to perform a new trick. Drill days offer a lower intensity but essential phase of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306018180_The_fourth_dimension_A_motoric_perspective_on_the_anxiety-performance_relationship">what’s called</a> “embedding”. This makes skills more automatic, builds confidence and elaborates the trick with extra “showy bits”, such as grabbing the ski or board with their hands. The play day is a low-level session, maybe just sliding on powder snow, but an activity that offers a mental rest while re-energising the soul.</p>
<p>The emotional challenge of these events can be very high, especially when athletes are taking new tricks onto the snow for the first time. So ensuring sufficient mental recovery time is a big feature of life for these athletes. On a daily basis, for example, coaches and support staff will ensure time away from structured practice and offer activities for athletes to decompress. “Vegging out in the hotel room” is an important element of maintaining quality on the slopes, not a mark of idleness. Regular “anchor sleep” – the big block of sleep a person gets in a 24-hour period – is also important. </p>
<p>Athletes live in a close proximity bubble when training or preparing for a competition, so getting away from the venue – and each other – for a day trip just makes good sense and helps them keep a good balance. It can also help them to refocus on high-risk days.</p>
<p>So, as you watch the amazing performances of the skiers and snowboarders at the Olympics, take time to appreciate the levels of work, physical but largely mental, that have got them there.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90735/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dave Collins is a director of Grey Matters Performance Ltd. who are contracted to provide a performance psychology service to Snow Sports New Zealand.</span></em></p>Flirting with danger with each trick, freeskiers and snowboarders must learn to manage the emotions of such a daredevil sport.Dave Collins, Chair and Director, Institute of Coaching and Performance, University of Central LancashireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/912602018-02-09T11:18:41Z2018-02-09T11:18:41ZWinter Olympics: why it's wrong that Russian athletes are guilty until proven innocent<p>Just hours before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, a group of 47 Russian athletes who had hoped to compete in South Korea, were <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42999126">denied</a> the chance to do so when their appeal was turned down the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). </p>
<p>In December 2017, the International Olympic Committe (IOC) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/05/sports/olympics/ioc-russia-winter-olympics.html">banned Russian athletes</a> from competing because of alleged systematic manipulation of the anti-doping system in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. </p>
<p>The IOC made provision for individual Russian athletes who could prove their innocence – by providing evidence from independent testing – to participate as an “Olympic Athlete from Russia” (OAR). There will be 169 Russian athletes competing at the Games under this route. However, this leaves the possibility that there might be innocent athletes who cannot compete because they could not prove their innocence.</p>
<p>The IOC’s decision to ban all Russian athletes until they are proven innocent amounts to a collective punishment of an entire national Olympic team, including coaches and top officials. But based on my ongoing research into the case I believe the initial ban was not supported by solid evidence</p>
<h2>Bans and appeals</h2>
<p>The 47 Russian athletes and coaches whose last-minute appeals were overturned by CAS on February 9, included a group of 28 athletes whose lifetime bans for doping had been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-doping-olympics-russia/cas-overturns-doping-bans-on-28-russian-athletes-idUSKBN1FL4ET">overturned</a> on February 1 by the same court. </p>
<p>After examining 39 cases, and for the first time <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-sports/42674331">cross-examining</a> Grigory Rodchenkov – the former director of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, whose <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/sports/russia-doping-sochi-olympics-2014.html?_r=2">whisteblowing</a> led to the bans – CAS <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-doping-olympics-russia/cas-overturns-doping-bans-on-28-russian-athletes-idUSKBN1FL4ET">overturned 28</a> lifetime bans, saying there was insufficient evidence that they broke the rules. Those whose bans were lifted included Alexander Tretyakov, who won a skeleton gold at Sochi. </p>
<p>But within hours of announcing the decision, both the IOC and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) <a href="https://www.onenewspage.co.uk/n/Sports/75ip924w2/Olympics-CAS-ruling-surprising-and-disappointing-says-Bach.htm">expressed their disappointment</a> with it and <a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20180204-ioc-chief-urges-sports-court-reform-after-russia-bans-lifted">called for</a> reforms to CAS.</p>
<p>A few days later, on February 5, the IOC Invitation Review Panel headed by the former French minister of sport Valerie Fourneyron defied CAS’s ruling and said the IOC <a href="https://www.olympic.org/news/request-to-invite-15-athletes-and-coaches-to-pyeongchang-2018-for-the-olympic-athlete-from-russia-group-declined">still had</a> “suspicions about the integrity of these athletes”. It <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2018-russia/olympics-no-pyeongchang-invite-for-cas-cleared-russians-ioc-idUSKBN1FP18O">ruled</a> that 15 of the 28 athletes who’d had their bans overturned and who had requested to compete in South Korea would not be able to.</p>
<h2>No evidence of ‘state manipulation’</h2>
<p>The IOC was careful not to use the word “state-manipulated” system in its December 2017 <a href="https://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-suspends-russian-noc-and-creates-a-path-for-clean-individual-athletes-to-compete-in-pyeongchang-2018-under-the-olympic-flag">announcement</a>. But Russian officials, who deny the charges, have said it has been <a href="http://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/kolobkov-interview-shows-russia-cannot-meet-wadas-conditions/">made clear to them</a> that responding to this allegation is a key condition for reinstating the suspended Russian National Olympic Committee.</p>
<p>Following <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/sports/russia-doping-sochi-olympics-2014.html?_r=2">allegations</a> of widespread doping practices made by Rodchenkov in early 2016, WADA launched an inquiry led by the Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, who is also a CAS member. His <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/20160718_ip_report_newfinal.pdf">findings were published</a> in July 2016. </p>
<p>Despite Russia raising questions over the <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-putin-olympic-doping-whistle-blower-rodchenkov-a-jerk/29007755.html">credibility</a> of the Rodchenkov as a witness, McLaren found he was a credible person, and concluded that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The surprise result of the Sochi investigation was the revelation of the extent of state oversight and directed control of the Moscow Laboratory in processing, and covering up urine samples of Russian athletes from virtually all sports before and after the Sochi Games.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The political tone of the debate about the report was set several days before its publication in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-doping-russia-usada-exclusive/exclusive-nados-some-athletes-want-total-russia-ban-if-doping-report-damning-idUSKCN0ZW0XH">a leaked letter </a> drafted by the chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Travis Tygart, and his Canadian counterpart Paul Melia. The letter called for drastic action and to immediately suspend the Russian Olympic and Paralympic Committees from the Olympic Movement. USADA also <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/pat-hickey-slams-report-calling-for-outright-russian-olympic-ban-1.2725073">approached several</a> National Olympic Committees to garner support for the call in a serious serious breach of the independent process of investigation. </p>
<p>It would be naïve to decouple this report and the ban that followed from the current geopolitical context where Russia has been subjected to a systematic campaign of discreditation and political and economic <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/25/europe/russia-sanctions-explainer/index.html">sanctions</a> led by the US.</p>
<p>The word “state” is not used in the <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/resources/doping-control-process/mclaren-independent-investigation-report-part-ii">second part</a> of McLaren’s report, published in December 2016. The allegation of a state-sponsored programme was quietly dropped, replaced by an allegation of an “institutionalised” doping conspiracy. This important change of wording was also noted by a subsequent report commissioned by the IOC into the case by the former president of Switzerland, Samuel Schmid. He <a href="https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/IOC/Who-We-Are/Commissions/Disciplinary-Commission/IOC-DC-Schmid/IOC-Disciplinary-Commission-Schmid-Report.pdf#_ga=2.266293837.337422065.1517832823-1277377352.1517832823">found no evidence</a> in support of McLaren’s initial claims for state involvement.</p>
<p>McLaren had <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/trackandfield/richard-mclaren-russian-doping-wada-1.3314048">admitted this</a> himself in an interview with Canadian CBC Sport in late 2015: “We don’t have any evidence of a systematic, state-wide doping mechanism. If we did, we would have published it, and so we have to go on the inference.” </p>
<h2>A question of integrity</h2>
<p>Integrity is the crux of the matter. But it’s a characteristic not only of individuals and organisations, but of the processes involved in how evidence used to make independent, unbiased judgements is acquired. The ends cannot justify the means. </p>
<p>While it claims to be protecting the integrity of sport, I believe the McLaren report and the IOC’s subsequent decisions to ban Russian athletes have actually contributed to undermining it. </p>
<p>A dangerous precedent has been established in international sport policy. Against the norm of international law and the presumption of innocence until proved guilty, a collective punishment has been issued on the entire sport system of a country and its athletes, who were then charged to prove their innocence. This cannot be right.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91260/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vassil Girginov does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The politics of Russia's Olympic doping ban.Vassil Girginov, Reader in Sports Management and Development, Brunel University LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/911262018-02-09T08:31:12Z2018-02-09T08:31:12ZKorea's first unified Olympic team is an uneasy truce of diplomacy and sexism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205557/original/file-20180208-180841-1a0ey1k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.olympic.org/pyeongchang-2018">XXIII Olympic Winter Games</a> in PyeongChang provides a fascinating opportunity to consider the complex relationship between sport and national identity, especially as North and South Korea will be fielding a joint women’s ice hockey team.</p>
<p>The last-minute team <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/world/asia/north-south-korea-olympics.html">decision</a> was announced on January 17 as part of the <a href="https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/News/2018/2018-01-20-Declaration.pdf">Olympic Korean Peninsula Declaration</a>, and generated considerable <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/olympics-north-korea-moon-kim-jong-un-hockey/551708/">debate</a>, especially among younger South Koreans who view the move to be North Korea hitching a ride on the coat-tails of their own team. </p>
<p>In the world of elite sport, the timing of the decision seems like an afterthought, and women’s ice hockey is the only sport where a joint Korean team will feature. So it raises at least two questions. Why the women’s ice hockey team? And is this a genuine act of good faith to promote women, sport and unity, or simply a case of gesture politics that will not be be followed up by any serious diplomacy?</p>
<h2>A complicated history</h2>
<p>Coexisting in a tense geopolitical atmosphere, these two nation states were manufactured out of the <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/korea-a-history-of-the-north-south-split-10449691">complex arrangements</a> that divided Korea in the aftermath of World War II and the emergent Cold War.</p>
<p>Following <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/korea_hickey_01.shtml">the Korean War</a> (1950-53) between the US-backed South and the North, backed by the USSR and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the <a href="http://blogs.britannica.com/2011/07/uneasy-truce-korean-war/">uneasy truce</a> suspended but did not resolve the conflict between the neighbours. But despite these divisions, Korean people share a common culture and history that long predates their war.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205559/original/file-20180208-180829-ncstb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205559/original/file-20180208-180829-ncstb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205559/original/file-20180208-180829-ncstb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205559/original/file-20180208-180829-ncstb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205559/original/file-20180208-180829-ncstb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205559/original/file-20180208-180829-ncstb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205559/original/file-20180208-180829-ncstb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Protesters in Seoul outside a rink where the joint North and South Korean women’s ice hockey team was playing a practice match with Sweden on February 4.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.paimages.co.uk/search-results/fluid/?q=pyeongchang%20ice%20hockey&amp;amber_border=1&amp;category=A,S,E&amp;fields_0=all&amp;fields_1=all&amp;green_border=1&amp;imagesonly=1&amp;orientation=both&amp;red_border=1&amp;text=pyeongchang%20ice%20hockey&amp;words_0=all&amp;words_1=all">PA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Against this backdrop, South Korea has transformed itself into a proud <a href="http://www.korea.net/AboutKorea/Sports/How-South-Korea-Became-Sporting-Powerhouse">sporting powerhouse</a> investing in sport and hosting international events such as the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 2002 FIFA World Cup (with Japan). Given the kudos that comes with staging the Olympics, it’s not surprising this recent declaration of unity has met with some opposition in South Korea. </p>
<h2>Thawing the ‘uneasy truce’</h2>
<p>The announcement confirming a delegation from North Korea would take part in the PyeongChang Games has sparked interest in the potential <a href="https://theconversation.com/north-and-south-korea-to-unite-at-winter-olympics-here-are-the-hidden-agendas-behind-this-sports-diplomacy-90280">power of sport in international diplomacy</a> and evokes a narrative of unification and reconciliation that aligns – conveniently – with the ideal of the “<a href="https://www.olympic.org/olympic-truce">Olympic truce</a>”.</p>
<p>Teams from North and South will participate in the opening ceremony “<a href="https://www.olympic.org/news/unified-korean-olympic-team-to-march-at-olympic-winter-games-pyeongchang-2018">together as one Korea</a>”. But beyond these ceremonial rituals, women’s ice hockey is the only sport in which the two Koreas will compete as one, under the <a href="https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Korean_Unification_Flag.html">unification flag</a>, playing in a specially designed strip, with Korean folk song Arirang – familiar to both nation states – as their national anthem. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Korean National Classical Orchestra/YouTube.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But national unity is not something simply created by a flag, a uniform and a shared song. On the surface, the unification arrangements appear positive, but a recent government survey <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/28/world/asia/koreas-olympics-reunification.html">revealed</a> that support for reunification has dropped from 69.3% four years ago to 57.8%. And among South Koreans in their twenties, 71.2% oppose it.</p>
<h2>Criticism and protest</h2>
<p>It’s interesting that female, rather than male, athletes have been chosen as a symbol of this (temporary) unified “nation”; women are not often elevated in a national narrative, especially in sport. But as promoting women in sport is a <a href="https://www.olympic.org/the-ioc/promote-olympism">key focus</a> for the IOC, it seems reasonable to profile female athletes in this way. </p>
<p>Still, the decision has been the target for legitimate criticism. <a href="https://www.hayleywickenheiser.com/about/biography/">Hayley Wickenheiser</a> a four-time Olympic ice hockey gold medallist for Canada and an IOC Athletes’ Commission member, is one of many who argue the proposal <a href="https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1060450/exclusive-ioc-member-voices-concerns-about-pan-korean-ice-hockey-team-at-pyeongchang-2018">doesn’t support gender equality</a> in the Olympic movement, as the men’s ice hockey teams have not been combined. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.wpxi.com/news/world/not-all-south-koreans-are-happy-about-unified-hockey-team/687335957">Media reports</a> claim the public believes the female ice hockey players are being treated unfairly and with a lack of respect. It is assumed some players will lose out because of the required inclusion of three North Korean players in each game. An <a href="https://www1.president.go.kr/petitions/92391">online petition on Blue House</a> – the official website of the South Korean government – protesting the joint team has over 58,000 signatures.</p>
<p>The reasons why women’s ice hockey will be the symbol of “one Korea” beyond the opening ceremony are unclear. The South Korean prime minister, <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/impact-player-lee-nak-yon">Lee Nak-yeon</a>, didn’t help things when he <a href="http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&amp;mid=sec&amp;oid=052&amp;aid=0001107275&amp;sid1=001">remarked</a> that the women’s ice hockey team was “out of the medal range” in any case. </p>
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<p>It may well be true that neither South nor North Korean teams (world-ranked 22 and 25 respectively) were likely to win a medal. And while the prime minister has apologised for his insensitive and dismissive remark, it suggests a lack of understanding and respect for the female athletes’ hard work, preparation and commitment. In addition to undermining gender equality, the logic seems to undermine two of the IOC’s <a href="https://www.olympic.org/olympic-values-and-education-program">key values</a> – excellence and respect.</p>
<p>Sport has been used in soft diplomacy between the two nations before – in 1991, at the World Table Tennis Championships in Japan, and at the FIFA World Youth Championship in Portgual. The two states have also paraded together three times at the Olympics. But PyeongChang will be the first time a joint Korean effort enters a competitive team at the Games.</p>
<p>As the XXIII Winter Olympics begin, could the joint team seriously be a starting point for unification after the games? Or will it just be another scheme in which a group of female athletes were played as tokens of international gesture diplomacy?</p>
<p>The answer is probably the latter, at least in the short term. Sport may provide transient opportunities for national unity, but it can’t do the heavy lifting required for political reunification.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91126/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hee Jung Hong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Korea's fielding of a unified Olympic team is an intriguing narrative of sport, international diplomacy and gender equality.Irene A Reid, Lecturer in Sociology of Sport, University of StirlingHee Jung Hong, PhD graduate and Teaching Staff, Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/905262018-02-08T11:21:14Z2018-02-08T11:21:14ZWhen treating sports injuries, does the West do it best?<p>Every two years, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/287966/olympic-games-tv-viewership-worldwide/">billions of people</a> watch athletes at the Olympics compete to be crowned world champion. </p>
<p>What the viewer doesn’t see are the athletes’ behind-the-scenes preparation, which includes trying to figure out new ways to give them an edge in the biggest event of their career. </p>
<p>Different treatment methods that may provide an edge always seem to be en vogue. During the Beijing Summer Olympics, volleyballer Kerri Walsh-Jennings introduced viewers to <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/10/what-is-kinesio-tape/">kinesio tape</a> – sticky strips applied to the body that may improve blood flow. At Rio, the large purple dots on the shoulders of swimmer Michael Phelps had fans Googling “<a href="https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/08/08/what-are-the-purple-dots-on-michael-phelps-cupping-has-an-olympic-moment/">cupping</a>,” an ancient Chinese healing therapy.</p>
<p>Both examples indicate a willingness among athletes to incorporate Eastern treatments with traditional Western training and treatment methods.</p>
<p>As an athletic trainer who has worked with college athletes, I’ve used many Western training techniques to aid injured athletes. But during my 15 years of practice, I’ve started to wonder if many of the techniques I’ve used are truly effective. </p>
<p>With this year’s Winter Olympics taking place in Pyeongchang, South Korea, it wouldn’t be surprising to see athletes talking about other Eastern treatment methods – acupuncture, herbal treatments and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11655-012-1238-0">Chuna manual therapy</a> – that have become increasingly popular around the world.</p>
<h2>Going after the pain</h2>
<p>In Western cultures, athletic trainers and therapists who treat injuries have traditionally focused on controlling pain and inflammation. </p>
<p>A common treatment for acute injuries is the RICE method: rest, ice, compression and elevation. The RICE method works by preventing the development of inflammation. With less inflammation present, less pain is felt and less swelling develops, and the athlete will return to <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0363546503260757">normal function</a> more quickly. </p>
<p>Ice, of course, has been used for decades. It is one of the most commonly prescribed treatment methods for acute and chronic injuries in the United States. But the use of frigid temperatures to treat injuries now includes <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3956737/pdf/oajsm-5-025.pdf">whole body cryotherapy</a> – chambers that expose the entire body to temperatures ranging from minus 100 to 140 degrees Celsius, with the idea that treating pain and swelling throughout the entire body works better than paying attention to a localized spot. </p>
<p>But even though most Americans probably use ice as their go-to method for controlling pain and swelling, <a href="http://www.natajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.4085/1062-6050-47.4.14">current research</a> doesn’t fully back its effectiveness. </p>
<p>Evidence is often mixed or lacking for many other common Western sports medicine treatments. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a form of electrical stimulation therapy that can help reduce pain following an injury. In this treatment, currents are used to stimulate nerves and decrease pain. While <a href="http://www.physiotherapyjournal.com/article/S0031-9406(15)03813-4/pdf">some research</a> suggests that it’s effective, it, too, needs additional support to truly strengthen this conclusion. Meanwhile, therapeutic ultrasound uses sound waves to generate heat, which is supposed to quicken healing. But again, the research on its effectiveness <a href="http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/2923/7/Shanks20102923.pdf">is inconclusive</a>. </p>
<h2>Create more pain?</h2>
<p>Korean athletic trainers, on the other hand, tend to utilize traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), though they’ll also incorporate treatments from their own culture and from Western medicine. </p>
<p>Unlike ice treatments, most Eastern techniques involve stimulating the body’s normal responses to injuries in order to promote natural healing. For example, traditional Chinese acupuncture <a href="http://aim.bmj.com/content/27/1/33.full">is based on the idea</a> of stimulating the body’s “<a href="https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/traditional-chinese-medicine/what-qi-and-other-concepts">qi</a>,” or energy, to restore balance within the body (what’s called the “yin and yang”). Studies <a href="http://aim.bmj.com/content/27/1/33.full">have shown</a> that following the insertion of a needle, neurotransmitters do get activated that help alleviate pain. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.medicinenet.com/cupping/article.htm#where_did_cupping_come_from">cupping therapy</a> – a practice that may be <a href="http://www.qscience.com/doi/abs/10.5339/cis.2011.2">3,000 years old</a> – involves placing heated cups on the skin, which creates a strong suction force that leads to bruising. The increased blood flow to the affected areas is thought to stimulate healing and muscle relaxation.</p>
<p>Only in the 1990s did researchers start to evaluate the effectiveness of South Korean sports medicine treatments. However, as with studies of Western treatments, <a href="https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2016/8639492/">their reviews</a> didn’t arrive at any definitive conclusions. </p>
<p>This was the dilemma I faced many times in my own practice. The field of sports medicine often incorporates emerging treatments that aren’t proven to work. But the fact that Olympic athletes are willing to try them shows that they’re willing to tinker with their bodies and take risks that could give them the slightest advantage, physical or mental. </p>
<p>As for the larger question of which treatments – Eastern or Western – are most effective, the research might not be crystal clear, but the medal counts might offer some clues.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90526/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nate Newman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the Olympics head to the Far East this month, two radically different approaches to training and treating athletes will be on display.Nate Newman, Associate Professor of Athletic Training, Director of the Masters in Athletic Training Program, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Drake UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/904112018-02-08T09:57:15Z2018-02-08T09:57:15ZHow the Winter Olympics expanded – and brought growing pains with them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203296/original/file-20180124-107971-wx3vdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Alpine skiing at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/18673_Vinter-OL_1952_-_slal%C3%A5m.jpg">By P.A. Røstad via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2011/jul/06/ioc-pyeongchang-2018-winter-olympics">announced</a> that PyeongChang would host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, most people outside of South Korea had probably never heard of it, let alone knew that the eastern part of the country had snow and mountains. </p>
<p>The shift in the type of place capable of hosting such a mega sporting event demonstrated how much the Winter Olympics has grown – but this change also brought with it a set of problems unforseen when the event began in 1924.</p>
<p>Figure skating first appeared on the Olympic programme in 1908, and ice hockey in 1920, but these events were part of the summer games. The first Winter Olympics took place in the French alpine village of Chamonix in 1924. The organisers of the Paris Olympics that year wanted to offer an International Sports Week at the beginning of the year with solely winter sports as an experiment. Only after its success did the IOC decide to call the Chamonix event the Winter Olympics. </p>
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<p>The first few Winter Olympics took place in ski resort towns known to winter sport enthusiasts: St. Moritz, Switzerland in 1928, Lake Placid, US in 1932 and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany in 1936. In the 1930s the US and Germany hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics because the IOC allowed the country which won the right to host the summer games to decide whether they wanted to organise the winter ones too. If they did not – or could not in the case of the Netherlands in 1928 – then the IOC opened up the bidding to other countries.</p>
<p>The Winter Olympics has always been significantly smaller than its summer counterpart in terms of the number of sports contested and number of countries competing. Just over 250 athletes competed in Chamonix, and it took until the 1964 games in Innsbruck, Austria, for more than 1,000 athletes to compete. Fewer than <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/08/world/europe/russia-sochi-numbers/index.html">3,000 athletes</a> competed in Sochi in 2014, whereas more than <a href="https://www.olympic.org/news/rio-2016-sets-records-on-the-field-of-play-and-online-1">11,000 athletes</a> competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics.</p>
<h2>No more village ski resorts</h2>
<p>Although still significantly smaller than the summer event, the growth of the Winter Olympics to include 102 events across 15 sports at PyeongChang, alongside its global media coverage, means that the games no longer take place in small ski resort villages. Instead, larger cities have bid for and hosted the Winter Games in the past few decades. </p>
<p>Urban centres provide many of the required amenities for a successful Olympics: huge venues for the opening and closing ceremonies, sizeable indoor arenas for ice hockey and figure skating, facilities to accommodate the world’s media, and thousands of hotel rooms for all of the spectators. However, those same larger cities tend to be further away from tall mountains and the higher altitudes needed to ensure sufficient snowfall and cold temperatures for the outdoor events of skiing, snowboarding, and the sliding sports of bobsled, skeleton, and luge. </p>
<p>At the 2010 Vancouver games, even with the widening of the highway that leads from the city to the mountains at Whistler, it still took nearly two hours to reach the mountain venues. The organisers put on buses for those spectators who purchased tickets to events in the mountain to minimise traffic on the highway. After the initial ticket allocation, only Canadians with a postal code within a small radius of Whistler were permitted to <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2014/02/13/Vancouver-Olympics-Problems/">purchase the remaining tickets</a> to some of the mountain events.</p>
<h2>Further and further from the mountains</h2>
<p>One of the reasons the IOC selected the Korean city for the 2018 event was to <a href="https://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-elects-pyeongchang-as-the-host-city-of-2018-olympic-winter-games">spread winter sport</a> to a new part of the world which had not held the Winter Olympics. But aside from concerns about the post-Olympic use of these venues in a country where <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2018/jan/20/south-korea-abandoned-ski-resort-near-to-winter-olympics-venue-in-pictures">participation in skiing has declined</a>, logistics for spectators will be challenging.</p>
<p>The PyeongChang organisers recommend that visitors use the high-speed train from Seoul which opened in December 2017. However, a major Korean holiday falls during the Winter Olympics and the majority of seats on the train have already been reserved. International spectators who purchased special train passes for the games are now <a href="https://www.koreaexpose.com/korails-pyeongchang-olympic-discrimination/">unable to book seats</a> on trains to take them to the Olympic events. There have also been concerns about accommodation shortages. </p>
<p>The next Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022 will be ever more spread out between venues. As larger cities further away from the mountains host the Winter Olympics, the games feel more disjointed for both athletes and spectators. Fans must decide where to stay and may decide not even to bother attending any mountain events. The organisers for recent Winter Games have built two Olympic villages, one in the city and another in the mountains, separating athletes instead of them all living together. </p>
<p>Future hosts for the Winter Olympics have to find a way to balance the interests of athletes, spectators, and post-event use of facilities. This challenge will not be easily solved, although recent past host cities – such as Salt Lake City – putting their hat in the ring to host the Winter Olympics again may be one solution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Dichter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The long winter Olympic journey from Chamonix in 1924 to PyeongChang in 2018.Heather Dichter, Associate Professor, Leicester Castle Business School, De Montfort UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/908172018-02-08T00:15:47Z2018-02-08T00:15:47ZWill the Olympics' green makeover have lasting effects?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205357/original/file-20180207-74501-hh03s2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rising global temperatures may make many cities too warm to host the Winter Games in the future. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every couple of years, billions of dollars flow into an Olympic host city and its environs for the construction of enormous stadiums, guest hotels and athlete accommodations. </p>
<p>In the past decade, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has emphasized the measures taken to make these projects — and the Games themselves — sustainable.</p>
<p>But in a world where reducing carbon emissions is an overriding priority, is there still room for the Olympics? </p>
<p>Staging the Olympics comes with a huge environmental footprint. Flying an estimated <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/-frontier/the-environmental-impact-_b_11581162.html">28,500 athletes and staff to Brazil</a> for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio generated more than <a href="https://quantis-intl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/rio-2016-carbon-jul2016-ing.pdf">2,000 kilotonnes</a> (kt) of greenhouse gases (GHG) — not to mention the 2,500 kt of GHGs associated with bringing in about <a href="http://www.climatechangenews.com/2012/08/13/rio-2016-olympic-organisers-promise-greenest-games-yet/">half a million</a> spectators. </p>
<p>What’s worse is that the investments made for the Olympics often end up being wasted. After the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, training fields and pools, a beach volleyball court and a hockey stadium were all <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2014/aug/13/abandoned-athens-olympic-2004-venues-10-years-on-in-pictures">left to rot</a>, and the Rio facilities look to be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2017/feb/10/rios-olympic-venues-six-months-on-in-pictures">on the same track</a>. </p>
<h2>The Winter Olympics</h2>
<p>The issue of environmental impacts is increasingly important to the Winter Games.</p>
<p>When researchers at the University of Waterloo used climate-change models to look at previous Winter Games locations and predictions of future winter weather, they found that only <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/11/climate/winter-olympics-global-warming.html">12 of the 21 previous hosts</a> could be relied upon to repeat the task in a warmer future. </p>
<p>Many of the places that once cheered on the skiers and bobsledders sliding across snow and ice may be too warm by mid-century to host another Winter Olympics. Reducing the environmental impact of the Games — and greenhouse gases in particular — takes on a special significance when the very future of the event is at stake. </p>
<p>The 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Vancouver generated about <a href="http://sportmatters.ca/sites/default/files/content/the_olympic_games_impact_study_-_games-time_report_2011-05-11.pdf">278 kt</a> of greenhouse gases between 2005 and 2010. The vast majority, 87 per cent, were associated with getting almost 2,800 athletes, 10,000 journalists and as many as <a href="http://www.nineoclock.ro/2010-winter-olympics-record-attendance-in-vancouver/">half a million</a> spectators to Vancouver and out to event venues. </p>
<p>In fact, Vancouver was touted as hosting one of the <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33764#.Wnn2jKinFQI">greenest Games ever</a>. Some of this had to do with smart planning and the relative concentration of event venues in Whistler and Vancouver. But keep in mind that the Winter Olympics host fewer medal events and thus involve less movement of people overall. </p>
<p>Pyeongchang, in comparison, is gushing GHGs. Organizers estimate about <a href="https://www.pyeongchang2018.com/en/sustainability/story/outcome">1,590 kt</a> will have been released by the end of the Games. That huge increase in emissions may be due to the distance involved in moving athletes and spectators to the Korean peninsula — or simply because we have improved the way we <a href="http://ec.gc.ca/cc/default.asp?lang=En&amp;n=BE705779-1">calculate environmental footprints</a> for large and complex events. </p>
<p>But we can be fairly certain that the increase in emissions for the Pyeongchang Games aren’t due to an massive influx of spectators — in fact, one of the big concerns about Pyeongchang seems to be the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelpremack/2017/12/14/korea-is-getting-seriously-worried-about-low-olympics-ticket-sales/#2c8727e6fd39">low ticket sales</a>. </p>
<h2>Green Games?</h2>
<p>The IOC has taken many positive steps in an attempt to “green” the Games. Its comprehensive <a href="http://extrassets.olympic.org/sustainability-strategy/#_ga=2.197300845.359944782.1517323667-662287701.1517068302">sustainability strategy</a> leans on five strategic areas — infrastructure, material sourcing, mobility, workforce and climate — to reduce the environmental footprint associated with construction and transportation, and to leave the host city with better infrastructure. </p>
<p>Despite the guidance, it doesn’t always work. For example, the organizers of the <a href="https://www.edie.net/library/Rio-2016-Olympics-sustainability-carbon-emissions-air-and-water-quality/6719">2016 Rio Olympics</a> promised to <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/rio-olympics-sewage-1.3704804">restore the city’s waterways</a> through investments in the sanitation system. Even with strong planning, the Olympics do not always meet their green potential. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205359/original/file-20180207-74479-10ajwn4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205359/original/file-20180207-74479-10ajwn4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205359/original/file-20180207-74479-10ajwn4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205359/original/file-20180207-74479-10ajwn4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205359/original/file-20180207-74479-10ajwn4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205359/original/file-20180207-74479-10ajwn4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205359/original/file-20180207-74479-10ajwn4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Trash floats in Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro in August 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Leo Correa)</span></span>
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<p>One area where the Olympics have achieved some success is in the use of carbon offsets, which is, in essence, paying for emissions that can’t be otherwise avoided. </p>
<p>Today, carbon offsets have become an important part of the Olympic brand. Both <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-green/china-says-beijing-olympics-basically-carbon-neutral-idUSPEK30941520080508">Beijing 2008</a> and <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-olympic-organizers-sign-carbon-neutral-deal-to-offset-emissions-1.779939">Vancouver 2010</a> used offsets to reduce their emissions significantly. </p>
<p>But offsets aren’t always guaranteed. The London 2012 Summer Olympics <a href="https://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/09/london-olympics-drops-carbon-offset-pledge/">dropped its offset pledge</a> when it could not find any carbon offset projects in the United Kingdom. The Sochi organizers claimed to have achieved their <a href="https://www.triplepundit.com/2014/02/sochi-olympic-winter-games-broke-record-opening-ceremony/">“carbon neutral” target</a> for the 2014 Winter Games, but others have <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/524391/the-sochi-olympics-arent-as-green-as-advertised/">challenged that assertion</a>, questioning whether emissions associated with construction in preparation for the Games were included. </p>
<p>Pyeongchang 2018 is on track to achieve <a href="https://www.pyeongchang2018.com/en/sustainability/story/outcome">carbon neutrality</a> through the use of Certified Emission Reduction (CER) credits — an internationally recognized offset mechanism. By September 2017, the Pyeongchang organizing committee had secured offsets to cover about 84 per cent of the total emissions anticipated with hosting the Games, and there are plans to <a href="https://www.pyeongchang2018.com/en/news/pyeongchang-olympics-organizers-to-raise-funds-to-offset-carbon-emissions">crowdsource funds</a> to purchase the remaining credits required. </p>
<h2>Urban change</h2>
<p>The Olympics can leave behind important infrastructure legacies that promote urban sustainability over the long term. The Vancouver Games, for example, included a highway upgrade and the Canada Line — an extension of the city’s rapid transit system that connects downtown with the airport and Richmond, part of the metro Vancouver area. </p>
<p>Getting people out of their cars and onto the Canada Line reduces GHG emissions by as much as <a href="http://ctrf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/CTRF2015NguyenSangOramPerlTransportationEnvironment.pdf">14 kt of greenhouse gases per year</a>, suggesting that the entire impact of the Vancouver 2010 Games could be offset in 20 years. </p>
<p>Yet the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/vancouver-olympics-worth-the-7-billion-price-tag-study-says/article15036916/">Vancouver Games came with a $7 billion</a> price tag. And others point out that if the entire amount had been spent on improving the city’s public transit system, residents would have benefited from <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/footprint-of-vancouver-olympics-still-felt-but-impact-difficult-to-measure/article16386868/">much more than the Canada Line</a>. </p>
<p>Would funds have been available without the impetus of an international spectacle? It seems unlikely, but it’s difficult to know for certain.</p>
<h2>Olympics as a showcase</h2>
<p>At their best, the Olympics are a powerful movement that can effect change and act as a launchpad for new ideas. </p>
<p>Atlanta 1996 was one of the first Games to <a href="https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy00osti/23753.pdf">stage new and innovative technologies</a> in the areas of energy generation and efficiency. The infrastructure built for these Games included <a href="http://www.lapsedphysicist.org/2013/08/01/the-1996-summer-olympics/">large-scale solar panel installations and alternative energy vehicles</a>, demonstrating that these technologies were ready for deployment on a broader scale. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that this was more than 20 years ago and nearly a decade before Elon Musk founded Tesla. These installations helped usher in an era of solar deployment and alternative fuel vehicles. The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the development of <a href="http://nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/crs/R40168.pdf">dozens of new alternative energy programs</a> in countries around the world. </p>
<p>Both <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vancouvers-green-efforts/">Vancouver 2010</a> and <a href="https://www.olympic.org/news/london-2012-s-sustainability-legacy-lives-on">London 2012</a> featured new “green” buildings that used the latest <a href="http://greenbuildingaudiotours.com/neighbourhoods/vancouver_olympic_paralympic_village">LEED standard building techniques</a> and incorporated <a href="https://inhabitat.com/the-top-6-green-buildings-at-the-2012-london-olympics/">recovered materials</a> in their design. Rio 2016 similarly benefited from new technologies such as <a href="https://www.olympic.org/news/olympic-games-rio-2016-benefiting-from-ge-s-cutting-edge-technology">LED lighting</a>, which <a href="http://www.ase.org/blog/energy-efficiency-winning-gold-2016-rio-olympics">reduced costs and lowered greenhouse gas emissions</a>. </p>
<p>Yet the movement to showcase new technologies may be running out of steam. Pyeongchang 2018 has embraced wind electricity — enough to <a href="https://www.pyeongchang2018.com/en/sustainability/story/outcome">power the entire Games</a> — and has ensured that each of the six major facilities built for the events have green building certifications, incorporating cutting-edge materials, systems and design to minimize energy and water consumption. All of these approaches help reduce the footprint of the Games, but few can still be called innovative in 2018. </p>
<h2>Creating awareness</h2>
<p>Despite the best efforts of both the IOC and corporate sponsors, however, the impact of the Olympics is hard to miss. With an estimated footprint of 1,590 kt of greenhouse gases, Pyeongchang 2018 will come at a high cost. Couple this with low ticket sales and the <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/pyeongchang-games-white-elephant-venues-1.4269813">potential of abandoned venues</a> in the future, and the Games begin to look hopelessly out of step with the concerns of a world working to achieve a low-carbon future. </p>
<p>Perhaps it’s time to call for a broader Olympics of sustainability: Ideas that can help us significantly move the needle towards greener living in an inclusive world. </p>
<p>Each Olympics could adopt an area — transport, construction, electricity, ecology — and showcase innovative ideas to inspire the world. </p>
<p>Some of the earlier attempts to green the Olympics have given us dramatic examples — the Richmond Oval, for instance, uses recycled materials to give us a soaring building that was designed <a href="https://www.archdaily.com/49705/winter-olympics-2010-vancouver-skating-richmond-olympic-oval-cannon-design">not only for the Games but for its future use</a>. </p>
<p>The Olympics needs more of this sort of forward-looking thinking.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90817/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Warren Mabee receives funding from the Canada Research Chairs program, NSERC, and SSHRC.</span></em></p>The Olympic Games are an ideal venue to showcase new ideas to world. In a world where reducing carbon emissions is a priority, could the Olympics be doing more?Warren Mabee, Director, Queen's Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/912122018-02-08T00:15:45Z2018-02-08T00:15:45ZWould the founder of the Olympics approve of the Games today?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204983/original/file-20180206-14072-eduwpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Current IOC President Thomas Bach touches a monument to Olympic founder Pierre de Coubertin in ancient Olympia, southern Greece, in 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1927, <a href="http://coubertin.org/">Pierre de Coubertin</a>, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, visited <a href="http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2358">Ancient Olympia</a> for the unveiling of a monument in his honour. </p>
<p>He wandered through the ruins in pursuit of romantic visions of Ancient Greece. In a letter to the “youth of the world,” he declared the Olympics were not revived “in order to be a subject for film or an object in a museum,” but to be the emblem of a “religion of sport.”</p>
<p>Coubertin felt Olympia and the Olympics were not relics to be studied or read about in textbooks, but the living salvation of the modern world.</p>
<h2>The adaptable Olympics</h2>
<p>While the current <a href="https://www.olympic.org/pyeongchang-2018/results/en/general/competition-schedule.htm">Winter Olympics</a> may be <a href="http://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Media_Release__decision_RUS_IOC_.pdf">embroiled in scandals</a> — as modern Olympics often are — Coubertin’s vision remains relevant more than 80 years after his death.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/even-a-truce-between-the-two-koreas-might-not-save-the-winter-olympics-90560">Commentators may point to declining interest and other problems facing the Winter Games</a>, but the International Olympic Committee’s recent reiteration of the connection between sport and peace (<a href="https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/Documents/Olympism-in-Action/Olympism-in-Action-Sport-Serving-Humankind.pdf#_ga=2.252507341.517556001.1517768603-15800186.1517608319"><em>Sports for Hope</em></a>), <a href="https://www.olympic.org/news/refugee-olympic-team">the 2016 Refugee Team</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-winter-olympics-and-the-two-koreas-how-sport-diplomacy-could-save-the-world-89769">the possibility of these Games helping ease tensions on the Korean peninsula, if only in a small way,</a> makes Coubertin, perhaps, look less naive and more visionary. </p>
<p>Coubertin’s reputation rests on the Olympic movement. His ideal of sports as a tool for peace and his faith in youth and education bear remembering in uncertain times</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204742/original/file-20180204-19933-tc2wyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204742/original/file-20180204-19933-tc2wyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204742/original/file-20180204-19933-tc2wyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=856&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204742/original/file-20180204-19933-tc2wyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=856&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204742/original/file-20180204-19933-tc2wyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=856&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204742/original/file-20180204-19933-tc2wyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1075&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204742/original/file-20180204-19933-tc2wyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1075&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204742/original/file-20180204-19933-tc2wyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1075&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pierre de Coubertin (1925)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">[CC], via Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/Documents/Olympic-Agenda-2020/Olympic-Agenda-2020-Context-and-Background.pdf#_ga=1.60750253.1294426888.1465184939">As the Olympic movement contemplates change</a>, Coubertin’s legacy requires sober assessment. </p>
<p>It’s not clear Coubertin himself would recognize — <a href="https://theconversation.com/ioc-failing-on-human-rights-as-democracies-drop-olympic-bids-32308">much less approve of — the current incarnation of the Olympics</a>. He feared the Games would become a spectacle and despaired that large stadiums and crowds would dull the moral quality of his international sports festival.</p>
<p>He would find female participation odd, to say the least, though it isn’t clear he wouldn’t support the <a href="https://www.olympic.org/women-in-sport">IOC’s Women in Sport initiatives</a>. Coubertin thought the Olympics were adaptable to present conditions — whether in 1896 or 2018. To him, the Olympics were a means to an end.</p>
<h2>Olympic salvation</h2>
<p>Coubertin’s original interest was the educational potential of sport. Even as the Olympic Games became successful, the moral aspects of sport were central to him. </p>
<p>He saw a historic moment for sport in the 19th century, which began what he called “the physical renaissance.” (<a href="http://coubertin.org/docs/Olympism%20en.pdf"><em>Olympism:</em> 283</a>) His was a messianic mission: “It is only in certain historical epochs that physical exercise is called upon by general consent to accomplish a task of renewal, or restoration, or general rigour. We are living in such an epoch.” (<a href="http://coubertin.org/docs/Olympism%20en.pdf"><em>Olympism</em>: 221</a>)</p>
<p>In the midst of this mission, Coubertin recognized what to him were the signs of imminent decline: Ambition, money and specialization. He decided the way to prevent what he saw as sport’s corruption was to place athletics under “the patronage of Classical Antiquity!” (<a href="http://coubertin.org/docs/Olympism%20en.pdf"><em>Olympism</em>: 309</a>). </p>
<p>Coubertin did not intend <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-much-have-the-olympics-really-changed-since-ancient-times-63361">to recreate the ancient Olympics</a>, but he was inspired by them. His aim was to promote what he thought was ancient sport’s true virtue, “the merit of seeking effort only in the effort itself… to worship effort in a disinterested way and to love difficult things simply because they are difficult.” (<a href="http://coubertin.org/docs/Olympism%20en.pdf"><em>Olmypism</em>: 295</a>)</p>
<p>Whether the IOC has carefully managed this legacy or not, Coubertin’s vision remains.</p>
<h2>Antiquity and modernity</h2>
<p>Coubertin’s understanding of sport was anything but antiquarian. He saw athletics as modern, especially in its democratic and international character. He believed that athletics would promote international co-operation and, in fact, peace. </p>
<p>Democracy, internationalism and peace were the benefits modern sport had to offer the world. These would be coupled with the moral benefits of the pursuit of effort for effort’s sake. Sport was a fusing of old and new, tradition and innovation. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204985/original/file-20180206-14107-183j7kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204985/original/file-20180206-14107-183j7kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=416&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204985/original/file-20180206-14107-183j7kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=416&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204985/original/file-20180206-14107-183j7kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=416&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204985/original/file-20180206-14107-183j7kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=523&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204985/original/file-20180206-14107-183j7kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=523&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204985/original/file-20180206-14107-183j7kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=523&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A priestess dances next to the Olympic flame during the lighting ceremony for the 2006 Turin Winter Games in the Pierre de Coubertin Grove in Ancient Olympia, Greece.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ancient Greece was a model, <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/ca/academic/subjects/history/regional-and-world-history-general-interest/past-foreign-country-revisited?format=PB&amp;isbn=9780521616850#shux53HhsUCDSZo2.97">equal parts inspiration and lustrous veneer</a>. “Hellenism again!” cried Coubertin in one of his last publications in 1936, invoking the ancient Greek past. “We used to believe that Hellenism was a thing of the past, a dead notion, impossible to revive and inapplicable to current conditions. This is wrong. Hellenism is part of the future.”</p>
<h2>The Olympic future</h2>
<p>At the Panathenaic stadium at Athens, the venue for the first modern Olympics in 1896, Coubertin saw a manifestation of the merger of past and present in Olympic sport. </p>
<p>He received an inscribed seat at the stadium and watched a university team. He observed the novelties (“cinder track, spiked shoes”) but saw, reborn, an eternal athlete. “Their souls were the same and their youth ringed around by the same youthful surge of muscular joy.” (<a href="http://coubertin.org/docs/Olympism%20en.pdf"><em>Olympism</em>: 512</a>) </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204991/original/file-20180206-14078-wbipiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204991/original/file-20180206-14078-wbipiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204991/original/file-20180206-14078-wbipiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204991/original/file-20180206-14078-wbipiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204991/original/file-20180206-14078-wbipiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204991/original/file-20180206-14078-wbipiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204991/original/file-20180206-14078-wbipiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204991/original/file-20180206-14078-wbipiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The old Panathenaic Olympic Stadium of Athens, a marble reconstruction of the city’s ancient stadium built for the first modern Olympics held in Athens in 1896.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Coubertin spied one of these student-athletes as he prepared to leave the stadium: “The student [was] full of the joy of living, his body suffused with the voluptuous glow that comes only from healthy tiredness induced by sport… He was like a sculpture representing neo-Olympism, the symbol of future victories awaiting Hellenism—still very much alive, and eternally adapted to human circumstances.” </p>
<h2>Naive or visionary?</h2>
<p>Coubertin’s romantic vision for sport, young people and peace may seem naive. (Though <a href="https://nemeangames.org/">others have put a similar vision into practice in the home of another ancient Greek athletic festival</a>.) Or, considering the <a href="https://www.olympic.org/sponsors">incredible number of corporate partners in the modern Olympics</a>, we may choose to be cynics. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, it remains the case that 124 years after he fitted modern sport with an ancient pedigree, Coubertin’s Games remain an icon, and an enduring reminder of the possibilities of internationalism — <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-ioc-effectively-maintains-a-gag-order-on-nonsponsors-of-the-olympics-63747">often in spite of themselves</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter J. Miller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the Olympics get underway, what would the man who founded the modern Olympic movement think? Pierre de Coubertin's vision of the Olympics as a tool of peace and faith in youth still resonates.Peter J. Miller, Assistant Professor of Classics, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/911842018-02-06T23:55:42Z2018-02-06T23:55:42ZMusic of champions: How CBC and NBC Olympic themes shape our differences<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205795/original/file-20180210-51694-13h2n03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fireworks explode behind the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/David J. Phillip,Pool)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What role does music play at the Olympics? </p>
<p>Audiences are usually aware of the moods music can evoke during emotionally heightened moments, like national anthems at medal ceremonies. Yet we rarely consider the Olympic theme music used by major media networks as something that helps to frame sports coverage. </p>
<p>It’s the theme music that fills our ears before and after commercials and quietly accompanies their intimate athlete profiles. That theme music can actually have an impact on the way we view sports. </p>
<p>I compared the music of NBC and CBC — the official Olympic networks in the United States and Canada — to explore what might be revealed in the differences of the cultures of sounds between the two countries.</p>
<p>NBC’s Olympic theme is arguably the most memorable in sport. To understand why it is so unforgettable, we first must consider the musical catalogue of its composer, <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6598025/john-williams-best-movie-scores-ranked">John Williams</a>. Williams has been credited for writing “<a href="http://www.toledo.com/news/2015/09/29/listen-up-toledo/soundtrack-of-our-lives-the-music-of-john-williams-at-stranahan/">the soundtrack of our lives</a>.” </p>
<p>Since the 1970s he has written the movie soundtracks for generations of Western movie goers — giving many of us music to accompany our lives. These movies include hits like Jaws, Star Wars, Superman, E. T., Indiana Jones, Home Alone and Harry Potter. Williams not only captured the American film score sound, he defined it. </p>
<p>When we listen to the Olympic Theme we must consider this music alongside his previous scores — all those movie scores that that have trained our ears to respond to particular musical gestures as moods and emotions. </p>
<h2>Musical gestures can be gendered</h2>
<p>So what are these musical gestures and how are we trained to respond? There are numerous means by which we can analyze these gestures and their associations. By examining the scores and noticing how all aspects of the music — the themes, orchestration, stylistic decisions, etc. — consistently align with particular characters and events, certain patterns begin to emerge. </p>
<p>Let’s consider how musical codes can be gendered. <a href="https://tagg.org/articles/xpdfs/tvanthro.pdf">Musicologist Phillip Tagg has analyzed how, musically speaking, masculinity and femininity have been represented since the 1970s</a>. </p>
<p>Female leads are often depicted by flowing melodies dominated by strings and woodwind instruments. For example, have a listen to Williams’ score for the Lois Lane’s theme from Superman: </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HJWQ528zYBY?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Lois Lane’s Theme.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Male characters, meanwhile, tend to be more consistently associated with music that is more up tempo, with more staccato articulation and shorter note lengths. The melodies for male heroes tend to have more leaps, and the instrumentation is dominated by brass and percussion. This description, not coincidentally, applies to the music for Superman himself: </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e9vrfEoc8_g?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Theme from Superman.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Because these musical codes for “femininity” and “masculinity” are continuously repeated within popular culture, including across Williams’ scores, we have been trained to hear them as “soft” and loving" (female) or “strong” and “determined” (male). Gender becomes musically audible.</p>
<h2>Olympic themes through the years</h2>
<p>Williams wrote the NBC theme <a href="http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/olympics-anthem-origin-leo-arnaud-john-williams-1201831690/">for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Summer Games</a>. The work lasts almost four minutes, and contains several sections.</p>
<p>It opens with Leo Arnaud’s “Bugler’s Dream”(0:00 to 0:46); at 0:46, Williams moves into his first fanfare in the trumpets — a striving, strenuous, leaping idea which we hear three times before they finally reach their melodic goal on the fourth attempt — the highest note they play in the entire work. </p>
<p>A snare drum then leads us into the “Olympic Theme” (at 1:06), marked by a flowing melodic idea with smooth articulations in the strings and horns. This section is more closely aligned with Williams’ lead female characters from his previous scores. At 1:52, we move into a more syncopated, livelier melody, eventually leading us back at 2:55 to the louder, “active” fanfare, after which the theme and the fanfare are heard together. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q9gL33ze4RE?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Olympic Theme Song, Los Angeles, 1984.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Williams’ Olympic music is a dramatic soundtrack that offers both soft, legato string melodies and active brass fanfares that have then been used by the network to shape tele-visual moments (like female or male athlete profiles) according to the emotional affect they sought to create. </p>
<p>The NBC Olympic mini-soundtrack as a brand is largely unchanging: While NBC “mines” the soundtrack to produce shorter excerpts appropriate for their coverage, the piece otherwise is not altered. </p>
<h2>CBC’s attempts to adapt</h2>
<p>How does this short soundtrack compare with the music used for CBC’s Olympic and <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/sports/paralympics">Paralympic Games</a> coverage? The CBC Olympic Theme, written by Marc Cholette, has been used since 1988; it is infused with trumpets and percussion which signify strength. </p>
<p>Unlike Williams’ music, however, there is only one theme; it is “active,” the dynamics are consistent throughout, and there is no dramatic change of orchestral colour between families of instruments. While the music builds to the theme’s highest pitch at the end (thus symbolizing achievement), never do the instruments push to their limits through extreme range or technical demands, never going beyond their comfort zones to what is just beyond reach.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IE28zktx3bk?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The CBC Olympic Theme, by Marc Cholette, is even and never goes beyond comfort zones.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Given Williams’ ubiquitous soundscapes within which most Westerners have been musically “earwashed,” it is perhaps understandable why listeners might hear the CBC theme as less dramatic. </p>
<p>But what really distinguishes the CBC theme from Williams’ music is what happens to it every two years: <a href="http://www.cbcmusic.ca/posts/19156/the-story-behind-the-2018-pyeongchang-olympic-game">The CBC adapts it</a> to incorporate the musical styles of the country. </p>
<p>Melding disparate musical sounds into one new work is <a href="https://search.proquest.com/docview/1426040812?pq-origsite=gscholar">part of the CBC’s mandate</a>. In the early 2000s, the <a href="https://search.proquest.com/docview/1426040812?pq-origsite=gscholar">network was under pressure to make their programming more multicultural</a> and so they shifted their focus to incorporate more “fusion programming.” This involved bringing together musicians from different cultures, styles and languages to see whether they might be able to find new ways to collaborate. </p>
<p>While the CBC’s intentions may have been good, the results have been mixed. According to ethnomusicologist <a href="https://search.proquest.com/docview/1426040812?pq-origsite=gscholar">Rebecca Draisey-Collishaw</a>, the musical output has not served to reflect creative and multicultural “meetings” between different musical traditions. Instead it more often represents — musically — <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/programs/onthego/phds-on-the-go-rebecca-draisey-collishaw-1.4050120">cultural minorities being assimilated into mainstream, white, Anglo codes</a> that serve to reinforce the status quo. </p>
<p>A contemporary version of “multicultural fusion” is evident in the CBC’s music for the upcoming 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. </p>
<p>The updated theme, <a href="http://graysonmatthews.com/">written by composer Tim Weston and staff at creative audio agency Grayson Matthews</a>, opens with a voice accompanied by synthesized strings; at 0:09, the composers add a <em>janggu</em> (a Korean drum) and a <em>gayageum</em> (a 12-string zither-like instrument). The <em>janggu</em> and <em>gayageum</em> are perhaps the traditional Korean instruments most familiar to Westerners.</p>
<p>At about 0:22, listen for how the Korean instruments are “assimilated” into a Western framework of meter, chord progressions and catchy syncopation.</p>
<p>Finally, the piece closes with a modified version of the CBC Olympic Theme:</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/339511129&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true&amp;visual=true"></iframe>
<p>The NBC and CBC Olympic themes are markedly different. The American network uses a soundtrack that is both unchanging and grounded in codes developed within movie soundtracks over the last half century. </p>
<p>The CBC theme, meanwhile, is less dramatic but celebrates itself as a fusion of musical traditions. Unlike American audiences, Canadians travel sonically beyond their borders. While an admirable project, on closer analysis, this music — like many of the CBC’s previous fusion experiments like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuse_(radio_program)"><em>Fuse</em>, a national radio program that aired between 2005 and 2008</a> — seems to appropriate sound to “add spice” to Western sonorities. Case in point: They even describe the theme as “Korean flavoured” on the website. </p>
<p>By choosing traditional Korean instruments, they limit the representation of South Korea as a society that is traditional and dated, and perhaps less modern than Canada. </p>
<p>This February, I invite you not only to watch the Olympic coverage but listen to it and consider how music — a seemingly benign medium — does its ideological work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91184/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kip Pegley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>CBC and NBC's theme music that fills our ears before and after commercials and quietly accompanies intimate athlete profiles can actually have an impact on the way we view sports.Kip Pegley, Associate Professor of Music, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/908152018-02-06T23:55:40Z2018-02-06T23:55:40ZPlayer or pawn? Women's hockey, the Olympics and the Korean dynamic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205792/original/file-20180210-51700-126arzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Korea&#39;s goalie Shin So-jung reacts after giving up a goal to Switzerland in the first game played by the combined Koreas women&#39;s hockey team the 2018 Winter Olympics. Korea lost its opening game 8-0.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Will using the Olympic women’s hockey competition as a stage for international politics help or hinder the female game?</em></p>
<p>That’s the first question that came to mind when I heard the <a href="https://www.olympic.org/news/unified-korean-olympic-team-to-march-at-olympic-winter-games-pyeongchang-2018">International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved</a> a unified South Korea-North Korea women’s hockey team for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.</p>
<p>Pyeongchang marks the 20th anniversary of women’s hockey at the Olympics. During these past two decades, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/sports/olympics/18whockey.html">criticism has been levelled about the Canada-United States domination</a>. Lopsided scores during the 2010 Vancouver Games prompted IOC President Jacques Rogge to insist that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/04/15/iihf-encouraged-by-closer_n_1426687.html">women’s hockey must improve</a> for the Olympic program to continue. </p>
<p>A new format adopted for 2014 in Russia led to more even scores, and while Canada and the United States remained on top of the podium, Switzerland beat Finland to earn its first Olympic medal — a bronze.</p>
<p>Given all this, the move to a joint South Korea-North Korea team, which could weaken the host’s performance, seems to counter the female game’s steady climb towards parity among the women’s hockey teams at the Olympics. It’s therefore important to consider two perspectives when examining this issue.</p>
<h2>The individual perspective</h2>
<p>First, there is the individual viewpoint that considers how the athletes and team staff from both South and North Korea, and other national women’s teams that are part of the Olympic competition, see the IOC decision. </p>
<p>Each South Korean player earned her place on the Olympic team. It seemed like South Korean head coach, Canadian Sarah Murray, and players <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/hockey/olympics-pyeongchang-womens-hockey-unified-korea-sarah-murray-1.4491587">were caught off guard by the decision</a> and alarmed that the late decision could hurt team morale. </p>
<p>While the Olympic host country is <a href="http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/championships/world-ranking/womens-world-ranking/2017-ranking/">currently ranked 22nd by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)</a>, South Korea’s best female hockey players may use the experience as a springboard to develop the female game in their country and Asia as a whole. But to accomplish that goal, they need to play well rather than be distracted because they lost their spot in the starting lineup. The joint team roster will include 35 players but only 22 can dress for each game.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204930/original/file-20180205-14072-1fgmtfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204930/original/file-20180205-14072-1fgmtfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=479&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204930/original/file-20180205-14072-1fgmtfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=479&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204930/original/file-20180205-14072-1fgmtfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=479&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204930/original/file-20180205-14072-1fgmtfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=602&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204930/original/file-20180205-14072-1fgmtfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=602&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204930/original/file-20180205-14072-1fgmtfj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=602&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hayley Wickenheiser is seen here in a 2017 photo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This was the point Hailey Wickenheiser, a summer and winter Olympian and <a href="https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/team-canada/women/national/history/all-time-scoring">all-time leading scorer for the Canadian women’s national team</a>, raised when <a href="https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1060450/exclusive-ioc-member-voices-concerns-about-pan-korean-ice-hockey-team-at-pyeongchang-2018">she voiced concern about the IOC decision</a>. </p>
<p>As an elected member of the IOC’s Athlete Commission, it’s Wickenheiser’s responsibility to speak on behalf of Olympic athletes. She did so by asking what impact the IOC’s last-minute decision would have on the South Korean women’s team and why the men’s team wasn’t subjected to the same ruling. </p>
<p>A similar sentiment was expressed by South Koreans <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2018/01/356_242616.html">who signed a petition</a> calling for the reversal of the decision by the country’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to enter a joint South Korea-North Korea women’s hockey team. </p>
<h2>The international perspective</h2>
<p>There’s also the international viewpoint that weighs the high stakes of global sport and politics. </p>
<p>Hockey has played a central role in sport diplomacy over the past 60 years, but rarely has women’s hockey been at centre stage. Several observers have noted that men’s hockey, however, has been employed as a tool for domestic nation-building and international superiority, such as the promotion of hockey for <a href="http://utpjournals.press/doi/10.3138/jcs.28.2.96">Canadian identity purposes by former prime minister Pierre Trudeau in the 1970s</a>, past <a href="https://academic.oup.com/dh/article-abstract/40/5/810/2403021">Canadian-American ties</a> and Cold War-era, East-versus-West relations, both <a href="http://www.utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.3138/jcs.47.2.29">Canada-U.S.S.R.</a> or <a href="https://www.brown.edu/initiatives/journal-world-affairs/sites/brown.edu.initiatives.journal-world-affairs/files/private/articles/14.2_Soares.pdf">U.S.-U.S.S.R.</a>. </p>
<p>In the <a href="https://bookstore.wolsakandwynn.ca/products/coming-down-the-mountain-rethinking-the-1972-summit-series">2014 book <em>Coming Down The Mountain</em></a>, a colleague and I noted that while the international hockey spectacles generated by hockey diplomacy fuelled a great deal of change in men’s international hockey, the strategy hasn’t done much for the women’s game.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205794/original/file-20180210-51694-1i4bh37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205794/original/file-20180210-51694-1i4bh37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205794/original/file-20180210-51694-1i4bh37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205794/original/file-20180210-51694-1i4bh37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205794/original/file-20180210-51694-1i4bh37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205794/original/file-20180210-51694-1i4bh37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205794/original/file-20180210-51694-1i4bh37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">North Korean supporters cheer before the preliminary round of the women’s hockey game between Switzerland and the combined Koreas at the 2018 Winter Olympics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>South Korea and North Korea have experienced tensions for several decades. Reports indicate that <a href="http://pyeongchang2018.iihf.hockey/women/news/crossing-38n/">high-level inter-Korean talks</a> were held to discuss the joint women’s team and ultimately work out details on how to integrate the 35-player unified roster. Indeed, <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/doi/abs/10.1123/shr.37.1.36?journalCode=shr">past research</a> has found international sport can be a forum where athletes are enlisted as ideological soldiers in Communism-versus-capitalism battles.</p>
<p>It appears that because the Olympic host country is not expected to challenge for a medal, the stakes are low enough that a joint Korean women’s hockey team could serve the role of “peace champion.” In so doing, the IOC and IIHF are able to highlight the importance of the Olympic ideals of promoting peace.</p>
<h2>Does the decision help or hurt women’s hockey?</h2>
<p>So, as an expert on women’s hockey, where do I stand on the joint Korean hockey team? </p>
<p>Based upon these two perspectives, and research I have conducted over many years, I believe the decision will help the game. </p>
<p>That’s because it offers an opportunity to build a sense of community that has always been central to female hockey.</p>
<p>I explored this theme in an <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/doi/abs/10.1123/wspaj.9.2.123">article</a> on community in Canadian women’s hockey in which I noted that as women’s hockey evolved from grassroots to international levels, it experienced a shift from collectivism and collegiality towards individuality and elitism. </p>
<p>I argued such change was detrimental to the female game. But the combined Korean team may provide the context for a return to collective thinking as a key part to building female hockey.</p>
<p>The IOC decision also offers an opportunity to build legitimacy for the female game.</p>
<p>No matter what the country or level of competition, women’s and girls’ hockey have suffered an inferiority complex. At the <a href="http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=12109&amp;cHash=940943f17c7fe83176ca93304effee3d">2016 World Hockey Forum</a>, an IIHF event hosted by the Russian Hockey Federation in Moscow, I argued that women’s and girls’ hockey will only gain global acceptance when key organizations like the IIHF and national hockey federations intentionally and strategically promote the female game. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204932/original/file-20180205-14100-12icqkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204932/original/file-20180205-14100-12icqkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=408&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204932/original/file-20180205-14100-12icqkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=408&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204932/original/file-20180205-14100-12icqkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=408&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204932/original/file-20180205-14100-12icqkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=513&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204932/original/file-20180205-14100-12icqkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=513&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204932/original/file-20180205-14100-12icqkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=513&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Canadian Sarah Murray, the South Korean women’s hockey team head coach, speaks to the media in South Korea in January.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ha Sa-hun/Yonhap via AP)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And so by selecting women’s hockey to make a point about global tensions and symbolic unification, the IOC, the IIHF and each Korean government have essentially signalled that women’s hockey is a legitimate sport on the world stage.</p>
<p>The decision also affords an opportunity to expand women’s hockey through cultural as opposed to political means.</p>
<p>In an <a href="https://press.uottawa.ca/hockey.html">upcoming book</a>, <em>Hockey: Challenging Canada’s Game</em>, I claim that cultural diplomacy, not political diplomacy, has helped to successfully establish a sustainable, global female game. </p>
<p>There’s no doubt that nation-to-nation competition is serious business. But it will take a collective worldwide effort among women’s hockey leaders from all countries to create change within the male-dominated institutional hockey system.</p>
<p>What’s more, the joint Korean team is getting media attention that will consequently build awareness of women’s hockey.</p>
<p>Twenty years ago, I co-authored <a href="https://www.biblio.com/book/too-many-men-ice-womens-hockey/d/148664325"><em>Too Many Men on The Ice: Women’s Hockey in North America</em></a>, a book published on the eve of the first women’s Olympic competition in Nagano, Japan. </p>
<p>A key theme of the book was the need to build awareness, since women’s hockey demonstrably thrives when it gets positive media exposure. But a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15205436.2012.677094?src=recsys&amp;journalCode=hmcs20">2012 research article</a> claimed media exposure demonstrates an ongoing ambivalence that continues to marginalize the female game, even at the international level. </p>
<p>The media spotlight being shone on women’s hockey in Pyeongchang, however, is certainly much brighter and more positive than previous Olympics, and the event has yet to begin. </p>
<p>At the end of the day, powerful international sports organizations like the IOC and IIHF call the shots when it comes to women’s hockey. </p>
<p>Female hockey stakeholders, including players, coaches and leaders within national, regional and local hockey associations, may not have much influence over such high-level decisions like the IOC’s. </p>
<p>But they do have influence over how the impact of those decisions may be leveraged, over time, to advance the female game within their country as well as around the world.</p>
<p>As a <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1012690212454466">colleague and I argue</a>, governance changes at the grassroots level is the catalyst that drives girls’ hockey participation throughout the whole female hockey system.</p>
<p>On Feb. 25, the 2018 Winter Olympic Games will come to an end, but women’s teams and programs in South Korea and North Korea will continue to exist. Let’s hope the momentum from the Olympic competition will ensure the female game, in the two Koreas and around the world, will drive further growth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90815/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Stevens does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond her academic appointment.</span></em></p>The joint South Korean-North Korean women's Olympic hockey team has angered fans of the game and raised concerns about athlete morale. But the media spotlight is actually good for the game.Julie Stevens, Associate Professor, Sport Management and Director, Centre for Sport Capacity, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/902152018-02-04T20:37:45Z2018-02-04T20:37:45ZDo the Olympics still matter?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205791/original/file-20180210-51703-1b4owts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reid Watts of Canada competes in the first round of the men&#39;s luge at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andy Wong)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With all the ethical and political problems facing the Olympics, do they still matter?</p>
<p>As someone who proudly wears his Olympic heart on his sleeve — <a href="http://www.sportshall.ca/stories.html?proID=81&amp;catID=all">I competed in the 1964 Games in Tokyo and have been involved in a variety of roles ever since</a> — I get asked that question all the time, especially when another Games approach. And my answer is still in the affirmative.</p>
<p>While circumstances change, and I’d like to think I make a fresh calculation each time, I still believe the Olympics contribute a net benefit to humanity. I’m excited about the forthcoming Winter Olympic and Winter Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.</p>
<p>For those of us who pursue and watch sports, it’s the only forum where the entire world gets to compete on a multi-sport basis. While it’s the polar countries that excel, the Winter Olympics and Paralympics <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/winter-olympics-month-athletes-organizers/story?id=52681068">will attract competitors from an estimated 90 national communities</a>, representing more than two-thirds of the world’s population.</p>
<p>In an increasingly privatized sports place, with a hardening monoculture of fewer and fewer sports and competitors, the Olympics provide the greatest range of national and regional accessibility.</p>
<h2>Provides support, visibility</h2>
<p>For Canadians, it’s the primary place where athletes in the rarely publicized but culturally important sports of skiing, skating, luge, skeleton and bobsled have recognized opportunities — and with few exceptions, the only time Canadian women and para-athletes get any significant support and visibility. </p>
<p>If it wasn’t for the Olympics to <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/CHPC/report-7/">stimulate government investment in women’s and para sports</a> and the worldwide coverage to attract advertisers, women and para-athletes would be even more underfunded and invisible in mainstream sports coverage than they are now.</p>
<p>So for those who believe in an equitable, broadly based and accessible sports system, the Olympics provide a very important incentive —and even legitimization.</p>
<p>It’s also fantastic sport, and gives us a chance to see remarkable athletes from all across Canada go up against the best from other countries, and represent Canada to the world. I’ll be glued to my television.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204333/original/file-20180131-157470-1w1c2qw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204333/original/file-20180131-157470-1w1c2qw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204333/original/file-20180131-157470-1w1c2qw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=715&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204333/original/file-20180131-157470-1w1c2qw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=715&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204333/original/file-20180131-157470-1w1c2qw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=715&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204333/original/file-20180131-157470-1w1c2qw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=898&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204333/original/file-20180131-157470-1w1c2qw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=898&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204333/original/file-20180131-157470-1w1c2qw.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=898&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Author and former Olympian Bruce Kidd, seen here in a 1963 race in Philadelphia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>What’s more, the Olympics make a genuine effort to affirm and encourage humanitarian international and intercultural education and exchange — no mean contribution in this increasingly war-torn, nativist and xenophobic world.</p>
<h2>Bringing people together</h2>
<p>In my long experience, this is real and sets the tone for the millions of sporting exchanges between people of widely different backgrounds that occur around the world throughout the year.</p>
<p>The joint North and South Korean team that will <a href="https://www.olympic.org/news/unified-korean-olympic-team-to-march-at-olympic-winter-games-pyeongchang-2018">march and compete together in Pyeongchang</a>, and the <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2018/01/15/commentary/world-commentary/kim-jong-un-wanted-korea-talks/">resumption of communication that it has initiated</a>, is just one example where the Olympics and international sport have brought bitterly divided people into the same room for peaceful exchange.</p>
<p>The Olympics contribute significantly to the development of sports around the world, especially among the poorest countries, distributing a big share of its television revenue — US$509 million from 2017-20.</p>
<p>One priority is sport for refugees. The very first <a href="https://www.olympic.org/news/refugee-olympic-team">Refugee Olympic Team</a>, made up of athletes from refugee camps in four different countries, competed in Rio in 2016. Many Olympic athletes, such as Canada’s Rosie MacLennan, have been inspired by their experiences to <a href="http://www.righttoplay.com/moreinfo/newsevents/Pages/newsitem.aspx?articleID=32">contribute to sport for development across the Global South</a>. </p>
<p>To be sure, the Olympics face a host of daunting challenges, including the <a href="http://time.com/4421865/olympics-cost-history/">ginormous costs of staging games</a>, <a href="https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1059288/ioc-establish-task-forces-with-international-partners-to-tackle-corruption-in-sport">corruption in governance</a>, <a href="https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1047571/ioc-adds-human-rights-clause-to-host-city-contract">human rights abuses</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/sports/russia-doping-sochi-olympics-2014.html">doping</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204334/original/file-20180131-157491-1w07cdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204334/original/file-20180131-157491-1w07cdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204334/original/file-20180131-157491-1w07cdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=888&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204334/original/file-20180131-157491-1w07cdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=888&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204334/original/file-20180131-157491-1w07cdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=888&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204334/original/file-20180131-157491-1w07cdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1116&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204334/original/file-20180131-157491-1w07cdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1116&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204334/original/file-20180131-157491-1w07cdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1116&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Calgary is considering a bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics, which would return the Games to the Prairies city for the first time since 1988. Here figure skater Brian Orser carries the Canadian flag at opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Calgary.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The issues are so formidable that fewer and fewer cities are interested in hosting them, and in some liberal-democratic countries, voters have turned back bids. It remains to be seen whether Calgary will actually go ahead with plans <a href="http://www.calgary.ca/CSPS/Recreation/Pages/Calgary-2026-Olympic-bid/Olympics-Bid-2026.aspx">to bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics</a>.</p>
<h2>Addressing many challenges</h2>
<p>But I would also say the Olympic leadership is preoccupied with addressing these challenges. One <a href="https://www.olympic.org/olympic-agenda-2020">solution to rising costs</a> is to use existing facilities as much as possible, spread out new facilities, placing them where they are most needed as Toronto did for the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games, and reduce seating for spectators, recognizing that most of the world watches on television. The Olympics vigorously tries to prevent and punish doping, as <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/ioc-russia-doping-1.4432781">the current spat with Russia readily indicates</a>. </p>
<p>While the Olympics have introduced important reforms in recent years, including transparent financial accounting and <a href="http://www.washingtonblade.com/2017/11/14/un-adopts-gay-inclusive-olympics-resolution/">an affirmation against discrimination based on an athlete’s sexual orientation</a>, it’s not easy to introduce and implement progressive change in way that keeps the entire world together.</p>
<p>I am enraged by the Russians’ state-directed doping in Sochi and support Canadian Olympic leaders who call for them to be banned from Pyeongchang. Yet I have European friends who fear Russian isolation and applaud IOC president Thomas Bach’s diplomatic gymnastics to balance sanctions and representation. </p>
<p>A big-tent approach requires a low threshold if you want everyone there. If we only competed with countries that shared our values, we would have very few competitors indeed. But it makes the world of Olympic sports very difficult to govern.</p>
<p>I’m quite happy if people continue to be critical of Olympic practices or blind spots — I’m critical of some of them too — but to give up on the project because the international sports world is not perfect would be really short-sighted. It would also deny Canadians an opportunity to participate in, and contribute to, a humanitarian movement that’s still very important.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90215/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Kidd is an honorary member of the Canadian Olympic Committee.</span></em></p>The Olympics have been plagued by doping, corruption and political problems. But academic and former Olympian Bruce Kidd says the Olympic Games are still an important humanitarian movement.Bruce Kidd, Vice-President and Principal, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/718172017-03-10T03:07:20Z2017-03-10T03:07:20ZAsia's Olympic moment has its roots in Cold War politics<p>China, host of the 2008 Summer and <a href="http://www.beijing2022.cn/en/">2022 Winter Olympic Games</a>, has turned into a major sports power, if its medal tally at the recent Rio Olympics is any indication. Japan, which will hold the <a href="https://tokyo2020.jp/en/">2020 Summer Olympics</a> in Tokyo, and South Korea, where the <a href="https://www.pyeongchang2018.com/horizon/eng/index.asp">2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games</a> will be held, are further examples of the growing influence of a group of Asian countries in the <a href="https://www.olympic.org/">International Olympic Committee</a> (IOC). </p>
<p>Taken together, this indicates that “<a href="http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2016/09/22/0200000000AEN20160922011051315.html">the time of Asia</a>” in the Olympic movement has indeed arrived, as IOC president Thomas Bach recently said.</p>
<p>But East Asia is not all of Asia. An Indian bid for the Olympic Games, for instance, seems unrealistic in the <a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/sport-others/india-not-bidding-for-2024-olympics-says-ioc-chief-thomas-bach/">near future</a>. And southeast and Central Asian countries’ bids to host the 2000 or 2008 Summer Olympics have also been unsuccessful.</p>
<p>Iran is the anomaly; until the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Iranian-Revolution-of-1978-1979">Islamic Revolution</a> in 1979, it was considered a very serious candidate for hosting Olympic Summer Games. Some other countries in West Asia and the Middle East, such as Qatar (the host of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/world-cup-2022">controversial 2022 FIFA World Cup</a> and an unsuccessful bidder for the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics), have recently gained a noteworthy influence in sports affairs as a result of their financial wealth. </p>
<p>Many of these developments go back to the 1970s. This period saw a large-scale reconfiguration of Olympic sport in Asia and demands to give Asian countries more influence at the IOC. But it was the Seventh Asian Games (Tehran 1974), a regional sporting event and training platform for the Olympics held under the patronage of the IOC, that accelerated the “rise” of the above-mentioned Asian countries in the Olympic movement. </p>
<h2>The ‘two Chinas’ problem</h2>
<p>The struggle for legitimacy between China and Taiwan is the background to all this. Since 1949, both have claimed to be the <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=K6IkDAAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;hl=de&amp;pg=PP1#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">sole representative of “China”</a>. This meant that each country was unwilling to participate in any sporting event in which the other country was also taking part. </p>
<p>China had left the Olympic movement in 1958 as a <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=K6IkDAAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;hl=de&amp;pg=PP1#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">direct result of its conflict with Taiwan</a>. And the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Cultural-Revolution">Cultural Revolution</a>, which began in 1966, resulted in Beijing’s withdrawal from all other international sporting events. </p>
<p>The country returned to the Olympic Games only in 1980. Its return was the result of earlier negotiations with the IOC about Beijing’s intended <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=K6IkDAAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;hl=de&amp;pg=PP1#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">participation in the Seventh Asian Games in 1974</a>. </p>
<p>One of China’s main supporters was Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’s Iran. His engagements with China led to increased anti-Soviet political cooperation after Tehran <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=K6IkDAAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;hl=de&amp;pg=PP1#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">diplomatically recognised Beijing in 1971</a>. </p>
<p>Shortly afterwards, Beijing took the seat of “China” in the United Nations, which had been <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-Nations-Security-Council">held by Taipei</a> until then. This was the result of decolonisation and of a growing number of UN member countries being sympathetic to Beijing’s claim.</p>
<p>The Japanese members of the <a href="http://www.ocasia.org/">Asian Games Federation</a> were also important supporters of China’s participation. The Japanese had come to the conclusion that Beijing represented China and intended to make the Asian Games more of a challenge by including Chinese athletes. </p>
<p>Simultaneously, the Tehran Games, the first hosting of an Asian Games event in West Asia, had a strong impact on many of the Arab countries in the region. Some of them had only shortly beforehand experienced <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/decolonization">decolonisation</a> and a financial boom through the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/oil-crisis">first Oil Crisis</a> in 1973. </p>
<p>In the end, seven of them joined the <a href="http://www.ocasia.org/game/GamesL1.aspx?SYCXGjC0df+J2ChZBk5tvA==">Asian Games Federation</a> before or during the Seventh Games, which encouraged their involvement in Olympic sports affairs.</p>
<h2>The geopolitical background</h2>
<p>Geopolitical shifts had a massive impact on the Iranian government’s plan to leverage China to <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=K6IkDAAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;hl=de&amp;pg=PA244#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">counterbalance the Soviet Union</a>. Strong ideological tensions had emerged between China and the Soviet Union since the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/20th-century-international-relations-2085155/Total-Cold-War-and-the-diffusion-of-power-1957-72#toc32948">late 1950s</a>. </p>
<p>The reason for the heightened concern over the USSR in the 1970s was the 1969 declaration by an overstretched Britain of its intent to permanently withdraw all its troops based east of the <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=K6IkDAAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;hl=de&amp;pg=PA244#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">Suez Canal by 1971</a>. This decision strongly contributed to the decolonisation process in the Persian Gulf. </p>
<p>These tensions eventually convinced the Iranians that China could be used to limit the USSR’s <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=K6IkDAAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;hl=de&amp;pg=PA244#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">freedom of action</a>.</p>
<p>Intensifying cooperation with other Asian countries, and especially with China through the hosting of the Seventh Asian Games, was a way to support Iran’s anti-USSR plan. </p>
<p>After Japan and China <a href="http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/china/joint72.html">normalised relations in September 1972</a> and the Japanese Olympic Committee became interested in bringing China into the Asian Games, discussions with the Iranians intensified. A final decision was reached at an Asian Games Federation council meeting on November 16 1973. </p>
<p>The People’s Republic was chosen as the representative of China. And Taiwan was expelled from the Asian Games until 1990, when it accepted being renamed as “<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/05/sport/taiwan-olympics-chinese-taipei/index.html">Chinese Taipei</a>”, leaving its international status vague. </p>
<p>International sports federations and the IOC, by then tired of decades of Cold War-related political quarrels within the Olympic movement, eventually <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=K6IkDAAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;hl=de&amp;pg=PA244#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">accepted China’s participation and the highly problematic discrimination</a> against Taiwan.</p>
<h2>Asia’s growing influence</h2>
<p>China’s return to the Olympic movement via the Seventh Asian Games had a significant influence on its participation in the Olympics beginning with the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid. </p>
<p>The IOC’s acceptance of the Asian countries’ decision regarding China and especially Taiwan highlighted <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=K6IkDAAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;hl=de&amp;pg=PA244#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">Japan’s growing importance</a> on the world stage, given that it had already hosted the Olympics twice – in 1964 and 1972. </p>
<p>Though less influential, Arab countries also became more involved in Olympic affairs through the Seventh Asian Games. Only Iran was <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=K6IkDAAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;hl=de&amp;pg=PA244#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">unable to utilise this newly gained influence</a>. </p>
<p>Then-IOC president Lord Killanin, who had attended the Seventh Asian Games, judged Tehran qualified to host the Summer Olympics in 1980 (eventually held in Moscow) and 1984 (eventually held in Los Angeles). The Shah’s government, though, had to deal with the superpowers’ <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=K6IkDAAAQBAJ&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;hl=de&amp;pg=PA244#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">own desires to host these events</a> and in 1979 was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution. Needless to say, the new government was not interested in continuing these plans. </p>
<p>Iran never applied for the 1988 Summer Games. These games then took place in South Korea, the second Asian country ever chosen (instead of Iran) to host the Olympics. </p>
<p>In the case of Southeast Asia, the next Asian Games (Jakarta and Palembang 2018) will reveal if Indonesia is willing – and able – to host the Olympic Games in the not too distant future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71817/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stefan Huebner received funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG), the German Historical Institute Washington, and the German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo.</span></em></p>Since the 1970s, several Asian countries, such as China, Japan, and South Korea, have strongly increased their influence in the Olympic movement.Stefan Huebner, Research Fellow in Asian and Global History, National University of SingaporeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/641172016-08-23T20:20:49Z2016-08-23T20:20:49ZWhy the spectacle of the Olympics will go on despite Rio's disappointments<p>The Rio Summer Olympic Games are over and as we celebrate – or rue – final medal counts, we can begin also to tally up the scorecard for the Games more broadly: were they a win for Brazil? And what do the Rio Games tell us about the future of the world’s single most popular festival?</p>
<p>For Rio de Janeiro and for Brazil, these Olympic Games arrived at the worst possible time. Instead of showcasing a rising global power with a booming economy, the Games put a spotlight on the country’s most serious economic recession since the 1930s, along with political corruption, rising crime levels, extreme poverty, pollution and a health crisis spawned by the Zika virus.</p>
<p>Hosting the Olympic Games is one of the costliest and riskiest mega-projects a city can undertake. Direct costs alone – everything from building a world-class velodrome to state-of-the-art media facilities – involve mind-boggling sums, reaching <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm%3Fabstract_id=2804554">US$15 billion for the 2012 London Summer Games and US$22 billion for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games</a>. Rio’s total bill for direct Olympic costs plus indirect infrastructure expenses <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/04/rio-olympics-2016-economists-question-wisdom-of-hosting-olympics.html">may hit US$20 billion</a>. </p>
<h2>Purported benefits</h2>
<p>What makes city officials and civic boosters think that such massive spending could be a good investment? A cynic might answer that a sports mega-event is just an opportunity for corrupt politicians to line their pockets with kickbacks and for corporate insiders to reap profits from hefty contracts. </p>
<p>Heavyweights in the construction and hospitality sectors <a href="http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=2016/08/15/business/90422">pushed for Boston</a> to host the 2024 Summer Games, for example. </p>
<p>But to sell the Games to the public, proponents claim three types of benefit: revenue raised during the events; longer-term upticks in tourism, trade and investment; and intangible but potent reputational gains stemming from increased civic and national pride and greater international respect.</p>
<p>The claimed economic benefits, for one, have proven again and again to be a mirage. <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.30.2.201">US economists</a> surveying the economic impacts of recent Olympic Games conclude that, with rare exceptions such as the tourism boost Barcelona experienced after hosting the 1992 Games, the Olympics consistently lose money for host cities. </p>
<p>Indeed, economists who study mega-events use this rule of thumb: if you want to estimate the economic benefits an event will bring, take the number touted by promoters and divide by ten.</p>
<h2>Feeling good yet?</h2>
<p>The feel-good intangibles that don’t come with a specific dollar value are no doubt a big reason why many cities are willing to host the Olympics despite knowing the economic costs. </p>
<p>A boost in national pride, such as the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games achieved, might well be worth billions of roubles to the likes of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This helps explain why national governments are willing to plunge massive subsidies into host city bids.</p>
<p>But the Olympic Games succeed in this category only if they change the dominant narrative about a country. The Sochi Games helped reframe the way Russians saw their country, replacing memories of the humiliations of the 1990s with a proud reassertion of great-power status. </p>
<p>Similarly, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games handed the People’s Republic of China a megaphone to the world, which it used to announce that the ancient civilisation of China was once again a confident and assertive global power.</p>
<p>But the Rio Games aren’t changing the conversation at home or abroad. For many Brazilians, <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-no-mood-for-games-the-pale-olympic-flame-of-rio-2016-63191">the Games are unpopular</a> because they encapsulate all-too-familiar problems, from political corruption to systemic failures to reduce widespread poverty. The stark contrasts – billions spent on sports facilities while <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/sports/olympics/rio-favelas-brazil-poor-price-too-high.html">teachers go unpaid</a> – make it impossible to take unvarnished pride in the Olympics.</p>
<p>Internationally, too, the Games have done more to reinforce old stereotypes than to create a more favourable image. International audiences saw exuberant fans but a country beset by problems. </p>
<p>Sadly, the dismissive judgment wrongly attributed to Charles de Gaulle – “Brazil is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/23/books/always-the-country-of-the-future.html">not a serious country</a>” – may turn out to be the message that many around the world take home from the Games.</p>
<h2>Enduring appeal</h2>
<p>Will future host cities be deterred? Last year, Olympic boosters were wringing their hands over public unwillingness to bear the price tag and inconveniences associated with hosting. Unhappy residents of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/shortcuts/2015/nov/30/hosting-olympics-hamburg-drop-out-2024-games">Boston, Stockholm, Oslo and Krakow</a> forced their cities to pull out of bids or bid preparations. </p>
<p>Critics pounced, suggesting that now <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/shortcuts/2015/nov/30/hosting-olympics-hamburg-drop-out-2024-games">only dictators</a> would be able to foist the Games on their peoples. But three of the next four Olympic Games will be hosted by democracies: PyeongChang (South Korea) in 2018, Tokyo (Japan) in 2020, Beijing (China) in 2022 and most likely – the decision will be made next year – Paris (France) in 2024. </p>
<p>The International Olympic Committee has begun to nibble away at the edges of the money problem by reducing the complexity of the bidding process and <a href="https://lsecities.net/media/objects/articles/rethinking-olympic-infrastructure/en-gb/">capping</a> the upward spiral in the number of sports and athletes included.</p>
<p>Rio’s juxtaposition of poverty and profligacy has made the Olympic Games more morally problematic. And the latest doping scandals have seriously dented Olympic organisers’ claim to stand for fair play and level playing fields. Issues like these will provide fodder for critics, but they’re unlikely to weaken the world’s fascination with its cherished mega-festival. </p>
<p>Over the last century, the Olympic Games – and the widespread belief that they are a force for good in the world – have weathered repeated challenges, from political boycotts to corruption and bribery scandals. They endure despite their manifold flaws because they showcase the entire world and the heights of human achievement. </p>
<p>There’s simply nothing else like them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64117/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barbara Keys does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Instead of showcasing a rising global power with a booming economy, the 2014 Games put a spotlight on Brazil's most serious economic recession since the 1930s, along with a host of social problems.Barbara Keys, Associate Professor of U.S. and International History, University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/634422016-08-10T00:34:57Z2016-08-10T00:34:57ZWhen doping wasn't considered cheating<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133412/original/image-20160808-18037-byecsw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jim Thorpe and Ben Johnson were both banned from the Olympics. But if each had played at different points in history, they would have been allowed to compete. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Lehr/The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Trying to gain an advantage over your opponent is as old as sport itself. But what’s considered fair and unfair is often up for debate. </p>
<p>In cricket, there’s “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sledging_(cricket)">sledging</a>,” which is when fielders verbally abuse batsmen in order to break their concentration. Baseball pitchers will use any number of substances, from Vaseline to pine tar, to get a better a grip on the ball, while football coaches will attempt to decipher their opponents’ calls on the opposing sidelines. </p>
<p>But, above all else, it’s doping that commands our attention, inciting moral outrage and international condemnation. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/dec/05/russian-olympic-committee-banned-winter-games-doping">Russia’s state-sponsored doping program</a> is only the latest scandal, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42999126">banning 47 Russian athletes and coaches</a> from participating in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.</p>
<p>We tend to think of doping as the utmost assault on fair play. But sporting authorities of the past – who had no qualms about enforcing lifetime bans for other infractions – might have actually found our current angst over doping puzzling. At the same time, sports fans today would likely be confused by 19th-century efforts to exclude the poor from participating with the claim that it was the only way to ensure a level playing field. </p>
<p>It goes to show that as time passes, so do notions of what’s fair.</p>
<h2>Honoring the gods</h2>
<p>The ancient Olympics of Greece were staged in honor of the god Zeus. But despite the religious underpinnings, winning had little to do with modern ideas of fairness: Athletes could, within reason, attempt to win by any means necessary. </p>
<p>They were allowed to use technological aides, such as <a href="http://ancientolympics.arts.kuleuven.be/eng/TC003EN.html">halters</a> (handheld weights that would enable long jumpers to achieve greater distances), and employ sometimes-deadly violence in the <a href="http://ancientolympics.arts.kuleuven.be/eng/TC007cEN.html">pankration</a>, a mix of wrestling and boxing where anything went (save for eye-gouging). </p>
<p>Greek athletes were also allowed to consume a variety of <a href="https://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/ISS/ISS2401/ISS2401e.pdf">performance enhancing drugs</a> (PEDs). Like the Egyptians before them, the Greeks made the connection between testes and strength. Athletes consumed animal testicles and hearts, alongside other herbal potions and hallucinogens. </p>
<p>It was, therefore, only those who dishonored Zeus by bribing opponents to fix contests <a href="https://theconversation.com/since-ancient-greece-the-olympics-and-bribery-have-gone-hand-in-hand-62476">who were punished severely</a>, with those caught having their crimes immortalized in stone plinths <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanes_of_Olympia">called Zanes</a> at Olympia.</p>
<h2>Ensuring fair … betting?</h2>
<p>In the 18th century, playing by the rules and fair play were closely associated with gambling – the lens through which both the upper and lower classes watched, played and discussed sports. </p>
<p>Whether it was pedestrianism (an early form of long-distance walking), boxing, horse racing or cricket, aristocrats would wager huge sums on the outcome of what were termed “challenges.” Some of sport’s earliest rules were, therefore, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Social-History-English-Cricket-Classics/dp/1781311765">designed to ensure fairness for those placing bets</a>, rather than those competing. </p>
<p>Everything changed once the Industrial Revolution began blurring previously impenetrable class distinctions. While <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/middle_classes_01.shtml">the middle class vastly expanded</a>, many social climbers possessed little of the status security enjoyed by their aristocratic predecessors. Anxious about their place within the social (and sporting) hierarchy, they increasingly strove to avoid any contact with their social inferiors.</p>
<p>Essentially, they wanted to rid sport of the lower classes – and the traditional excesses of gambling and drinking – to make it the realm of the elites.</p>
<p>Their ability to do so relied heavily on a new sporting culture called amateurism, <a href="http://www.gymnica.upol.cz/pdfs/gym/2006/02/10.pdf">which reinvented Classical notions</a> of sportsmanship in order to argue that playing sports for any reason other than for “love” was in some way immoral. </p>
<h2>The hypocrisy of amateurism</h2>
<p>At the same time, modern sporting leagues created opportunities for talented working-class athletes to supplement their incomes. Upper-class sportsmen didn’t need to make money from playing sports, so they utilized their financial advantage to further amateurism as a way to keep the working-class athlete in his place.</p>
<p>Fair play, in the modern sense that everyone competes on a level playing field, did not apply. And by the time a Frenchman named <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pierre-baron-de-Coubertin">Pierre de Coubertin</a> established the modern Olympics in 1896, the only “pure” athletes were gentlemen who relied on ability alone, played out of love and wouldn’t be tempted to cheat to make more money. Even training <a href="https://archive.org/details/TeamsThatHaveWonTheAssociationCup">was deemed unprincipled</a> by amateur sportsmen such as C.B. Fry.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, manual laborers were often excluded in the name of fairness because they were automatically at a physical advantage (and, after all, no gentleman derived his income from manual labor). As an 1849 article in the British newspaper The Era argued, it “cannot be supposed that a merchant’s clerk, for instance, is physically competent to contest with a machinist or carpenter.” </p>
<p>By today’s standards of fairness, it’s a logical leap. But the twisted rationale behind such rules was applied indiscriminately. </p>
<p>For example, an 1868 article from the Nottinghamshire Guardian described how an athlete called Peters was disqualified from an athletics race “open to all amateurs” simply because of the way he was dressed. Meanwhile, an 1871 article in The Standard reported that organizers of the Amateur Athletic Club’s Bicycle Championship reduced the field of competitors from 20 to three, as they were the only entrants judged to be “gentleman amateurs.” Even in the 1960s, cricket professionals <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Social-History-English-Cricket-Classics/dp/1781311765">were obliged to use separate changing rooms</a>, which could lead to the farcical scene of an amateur captain changing alone, while his professional teammates changed elsewhere. </p>
<p>More serious consequences emerged in athletics where men who had done little more than accept money as teenagers when competing in other sports were ruthlessly banned for life. The most famous case relates to <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-are-jim-thorpes-olympic-records-still-not-recognized-130986336/?no-ist">Jim Thorpe</a>, who had his amateur status, Olympic gold medals and world records (pentathlon and decathlon) stripped away when it was revealed he had previously played two seasons of semi-professional baseball. </p>
<p>But the most tragic example may be that of <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/athletics/john-tarrant-sad-shadow-of-the-ghost-runner-still-stalks-the-track-2305959.html">John Tarrant</a>, who became known as the “Ghost Runner.” Like Thorpe before him, Tarrant’s past mistake of accepting £17 (US$22) for a series of teenage boxing bouts in the 1940s denied him amateur status at just 20 years old. Effectively banned for life, Tarrant became infamous for gatecrashing races – entering without permission – and regularly outperforming internationally recognized runners. </p>
<h2>Doping: more about sponsors than sports?</h2>
<p>Distracted by social issues, amateur sporting bodies like the IOC have been slow to deal with the issue of doping. Although it was always frowned upon, it was usually considered a question of individual morality.</p>
<p>The drug-related death of cyclist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knud_Enemark_Jensen">Knud Enemark Jensen</a> at the 1960 Rome Olympics didn’t change the IOC’s approach. Doping became a serious issue only after sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive for stanozolol at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. Ronald Reagan’s signing of the <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/18990/reagan's_drug_war_legacy">Anti-Drug Abuse Act</a> that same year also proved decisive. Part of the wider “War on Drugs,” the issue of drugs in sport was no longer a moral question, but a legal one.</p>
<p>This significant change notwithstanding, the authorities – even when confronted with compelling evidence – appear unable to act. Like sprinter Marion Jones, who committed perjury, cyclist Lance Armstrong may face time in jail not because he doped <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/feb/06/lance-armstrong-criminal-charges-america">but because he defrauded the sponsors</a>. </p>
<p>It seems that, today, corporate sponsors are the gods that sports exist to please.</p>
<p>Given the righteous treatment of Greek match fixers and the ruthless treatment of working-class athletes in the past, the inability of sporting authorities to ban for life those who knowingly dope, over long periods of time, seems inconsistent. </p>
<p>Sport appears to have lost its true meaning as an enjoyable end in itself. But in an era when sporting bodies and media networks rely upon stars like Armstrong for ratings and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jun/24/uk-athletics-poaching-foreign-born-athletes-sponsors-zharnel-hughes">athletes are naturalized</a> or <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-29/south-sudan-'pressured'-by-advertiser-into-athlete/7674116">selected</a> on the basis of sponsorship rather than talent, should we really be surprised? </p>
<p><em>This an updated version of an article originally published on Aug. 9, 2016.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63442/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Duncan Stone does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In sports, what's considered fair play has changed throughout history. At one point, even looking 'too poor' was grounds for exclusion.Duncan Stone, Visiting Researcher, University of HuddersfieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/631572016-08-09T00:19:55Z2016-08-09T00:19:55ZHow do Olympic athletes pay the electric bill?<p>Recently, while sitting in traffic, I noticed a weathered bumper sticker with a little acoustic guitar on it that said: “Real musicians have day jobs.”</p>
<p>I presume most of us do have real day jobs, but as the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics begin, for some reason – maybe because I’m an ex-Olympic shooter – I wondered about the hundreds of young women and men who have tried (with many failing) to represent the United States in the Olympics. </p>
<p>Real musicians and Olympians seem to have a lot in common. They have ambition and enthusiasm for their craft. But like musicians, these talented young people have to pay their electric bills too. How do they support themselves and their families, all while having to diligently train, often several hours a day over the course of years? How did I pull it off?</p>
<h2>The haves and haves nots</h2>
<p>Many might assume that since athletes are at the pinnacles of their respective sports, they’re all able to live comfortably, either from endorsements or competing professionally. After all, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps’ <a href="http://www.therichest.com/celebnetworth/athletes/richest-swimmers/michael-phelps-net-worth/">estimated net worth</a> is about US$55,000,000. </p>
<p>But most who do make it to Pyeongchang receive very little funding, and most don’t make a lot of money off their sport outside of the Olympics, either. For example, two-time Olympic javelin thrower Cyrus Hostetler <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/olympic-executives-cash-in-on-a-movement-that-keeps-athletes-poor/2016/07/30/ed18c206-5346-11e6-88eb-7dda4e2f2aec_story.html">recently told The Washington Post</a> that the most he’s ever earned in a year is $3,000. </p>
<p>Sure, there are many celebrity athletes who are professionals, have corporate endorsements and have their airbrushed faces on a Wheaties box. Snowboarder Shaun White and skier Lindsey Vonn compete in the Olympic Games and then return to a life of material comfort. But these folks are few and far between. </p>
<p>The average U.S. Olympian simply does not live in the highest level of the financial stratosphere. <a href="http://trackandfieldathletesassociation.org/site/how-much-money-do-track-and-field-athletes-make/">According to the Track and Field Athletic Association</a>, there’s a “steep pyramid of income opportunities” for track and field athletes, with only a “select few” able to earn a very good living. Fifty percent of track athletes who rank in the top 10 in the U.S. in their event earn less than $15,000 annually from the sport.</p>
<p>Unlike many other countries, the United States federal government <a href="http://www.teamusa.org/us-olympic-and-paralympic-foundation/team-usa-fund">doesn’t fund Olympic programs</a>, though some athletes get special funding from their national governing bodies. For example, USA Swimming reportedly provides <a href="http://www.sportsmanagementdegreehub.com/olympic-athletes-salaries/">approximately $3,000</a> to national team members of its top 16 ranked athletes. But other aspiring athletes are actually unemployed and need to be supported by their families – and some families have even gone bankrupt trying to support their son’s or daughter’s Olympic dreams. Leading up to the 2012 Games in London, US News <a href="http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/alpha-consumer/2012/08/07/why-olympic-athletes-parents-go-broke">reported</a> that gymnast Gabby Douglas’ mother had filed for bankruptcy, in part due to “the high cost of her daughter’s training, which involved living away from home for two years.” </p>
<h2>Scraping by to chase a dream</h2>
<p>In reality, countless hopefuls and current Olympians hold down real jobs working all shifts. You name it, <a href="http://www.frugalconfessions.com/exltra-cash/how-olympic-athletes-fund-their-dream.php">they do it</a>: waiter, teacher, coach, construction worker, public speaker, janitor and many other jobs. For example, swimmer Amanda Beard has worked as a model and as a public speaker to earn a living.</p>
<p>Many are undergraduate and graduate students who train at their universities. Some serve in the military. Several fortunate athletes live and train at regional Olympic training centers like those at Colorado Springs, Chula Vista and Lake Placid.</p>
<p>The U.S. Olympic Committee has created athlete employment programs that offer some support and employment opportunities. For example, the <a href="http://www.teamusa.org/Athlete%20Resources/Athlete%20Career%20and%20Education%20Services/Employers">Team USA Athlete Career and Education Program (ACE)</a> exists to link aspiring athletes with organizations like Coca-Cola and Dick’s Sporting Goods, among others, that provide full- and part-time employment. </p>
<p>In my case, I recall preparing over two Olympic quadrennials to get ready for the boycotted 1980 Moscow Games (a team I did not make) and the 1984 Los Angeles Games (which I did make and medal) as a shooter. It was not a financially comfortable time in my life. </p>
<p>I supported myself with a mix of funding from the G.I. Bill, a graduate assistantship teaching physical education classes and work as a shooting coach. I also served part-time as a member of the U.S. Army Reserves. All told, from working three jobs, I earned $500 a month (around $1,500 today), plus the cost of tuition. </p>
<p>In fact, I just received a Social Security statement of earned income during those eight years. It doesn’t reflect the wages of a rich man during my Olympic quest – and even so I was probably one of the lucky ones. Many more fail in the dream to make an Olympic team than those who actually get to walk behind the flag in the opening ceremonies.</p>
<p>Chasing the Olympic dream can be exhausting. It’s not a straight path. There are skilled athletes who had to drop out of their chase for a medal because of finances. </p>
<p>So when you watch the Olympics, consider the personal stories of the 2016 U.S. Olympians who might be making less than $12,000 a year. </p>
<p>I can tell you from personal experience it’s not easy. But I can also tell you it can be quite rewarding.</p>
<p><em>This an updated version of an article originally published on Aug. 8, 2016.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63157/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Edward Etzel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A former Olympic gold medalist reflects on his own financial struggles as he trained and competed for the 1984 Games. Decades later, not much has changed for many Olympians.Edward Etzel, Professor of Sport and Exercise Psychology, West Virginia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.